“I do indeed;” and they walked together for awhile, then sat beneath the shade of a tree, whose long outstretched branches seemed to wave benedictions on their heads.

“I need change, but human sympathy most.  Mabel has gone from me.  It is not a corporal separation only, but one of soul and heart.”

“Mabel gone!  Is it, indeed, true?  But the separation cannot last; she will surely return to your love and protection.  Howard, I am glad you are h; ere.  Some unseen power must have brought you to this place, where you can unburden your grief, and take better and clearer views of the case.”

“Then you think she will come again to me?”

“Certainly; and you will both be stronger for the temporary separation.”

“I could bear it better were I not so sensitive to the opinion of the world.”

“You must rise above that.  There is no growth to him who, seeking the new, fears to lose his grasp on the old.  These backward glances retard the pilgrim on his way.  Do what you feel to be right, and care for no man’s words or opinions.”

“I wish I had your strength, Hugh.”

“I think you were sent here to me to be strengthened.  God’s hand is in the cloud as well as the sunshine, and I know He will work good from the seeming evil that encompasses you.”

“Your words cause me at least to hope.”

“This separation will work good for both of you.”

“I felt myself, when I found my love doubted and my truthfulness questioned, that it would be best for us.”

“Then you favored it?”

“I did.”

“I am glad it was so.  You will each have an opportunity to know yourselves, and how much you are to each other.  When together, words take the place of thoughts, while absence ever kindles the flame of holy love, and by its light we see our own short-comings, and our companion’s virtues.  Were I you, I should look on this as one of the greatest opportunities of my life to test my heart’s true feelings towards one whose affection had grown cold, or rather whose understanding had become clouded; for I doubt not her heart is as warm as when you led her to the altar.  Like yonder receding wave, her love will return to you again, while to her restless soul you must be as firm as this rocky coast.”

“Woman’s love,” he continued, “is stronger, mightier than man’s.  It is no argument against their devotion that they are changeable.  So is this ocean.  Each hour a different hue comes upon its surface, but the depth is there.  Thus is woman’s soul full of varied emotions; the surface play is sometimes dark, at others reflecting the blue of the heavens above.  Yes, they are deeper, higher than ourselves, and every day’s experience attests to the fact of their superior delicacy and nicer perceptions.  Their keen insight into daily matters, their quick sense of everything pertaining to religious and social life, are to me proofs of their fine qualities.”