“My work is drawing to a close.  Although I have not accomplished a tithe of what I wished to do, and have soon so much left undone, I am glad to remember that I have alleviated much pain and, I think, saved some lives.  Such success as I have had, dear Helen, has largely been due to you.  Your letters have been like manna.  You do not know—­it would be impossible for you to know—­the strength they have given, the inspiration they have afforded.  I am naturally very weary and worn physically, and the doctors say I must soon have rest; but your kind words have been life-giving to my soul.  I turn to them from day to day as one would seek a cool, unfailing spring.  I can now accept life gratefully with the conditions which cannot be changed.  How fine is the influence of a woman like you!  What deep springs of action it touches!  When waiting on the sick and wounded, I try to blend your womanly nature with my coarser fibre.  Truly, neither of us has suffered in vain if we learn better to minister to others.  I cannot tell you how I long to see the home gardens again; and it now seems that just to watch you in yours will be unalloyed happiness.”

Helen smiled over this letter with sweet, deep meanings in her eyes.

One August evening, as the Kemble family sat at tea, he gave them a joyous surprise by appearing at the door and asking in a matter-of-fact voice, “Can you put an extra plate on the table?”

There was no mistaking the gladness of her welcome, for it was as genuine as the bluff heartiness of her father and the gentle solicitude of her mother, who exclaimed, “Oh, Hobart, how thin and pale you are!”

“A few weeks’ rest at home will remedy all that,” he said.  “The heat in Washington was more trying than my work.”

“Well, thank the Lord! you are at home once more,” cried the banker.  “I was thinking of drawing on the authorities at Washington for a neighbor who had been loaned much too long.”

“Helen,” said Martine, with pleased eyes, “how well you look!  It is a perfect delight to see color in your cheeks once more.  They are gaining, too, their old lovely roundness.  I’m going to say what I think right out, for I’ve been with soldiers so long that I’ve acquired their bluntness.”

“It’s that garden work you lured me into,” she explained.  “I hope you won’t think your plants and trees have been neglected.”

“Have you been keeping my pets from missing me?”

“I guess they have missed you least of all.  Helen has seen to it that they were cared for first,” said Mrs. Kemble, emphatically.

“You didn’t write about that;” and he looked at the girl gratefully.

“Do you think I could see weeds and neglect just over the fence?” she asked, with a piquant toss of her head.

“Do you think I could believe that you cared for my garden only that your eyes might not be offended?”

“There, I only wished to give you a little surprise.  You have treated us to one by walking in with such delightful unexpectedness, and so should understand.  I’ll show you when you are through supper.”