In the first moment, Emmy was not in a state to answer him, her heart beat so. Then she said, with a

hesitating voice

"Something which happened before-when-before I learnt to know you, Siword.'

Perceiving her emotion, Siword threw away the flower, put Emmy's hand through his arm, and looked earnestly in her face, which betrayed signs of great confusion and emotion.

Is it necessary that I should know it, Emmy?' he asked.

'I believe, Siword, that it is my duty to tell you.' 'But a duty that is disagreeable to you?'

When she was silent and seemed to hesitate, he said, in a cordial, earnest tone, Child, I believe I can guess what it is that you think you ought to tell me. I know well that one must pay a very early visit to a young lady in order to be the first to whom she opens her heart. As I have learnt to know you, I am too thoroughly convinced that there is nothing in your past life at which you need blush, not to feel that you could make any communication connected with the past with a quiet conscience. Don't speak of it any more, dear Emmy. To-day belongs to us. Whatever love and sorrow lies behind in the life of either of us, we will leave undisturbed, and look forward to the future, which at least smiles to me in a manner that I never dared to expect in this world.'

It was as if the words of Siword had lifted off Emmy's heart a weight which pressed upon her like lead. With a fearless expression, she looked up at him gratefully, and the words which she spoke surged up from the very depths of her heart.

'Siword, God bless you for all your goodness to me.

You have nothing to fear in trusting me. The man whom I loved is married and lost to me; and if his memory, even to-day, casts a shadow over my happiness, from this time forth it shall leave me. To me also as your wife the future smiles, and may Heaven help me to make you as happy as my heart wishes!'

Siword made no answer.

He bent down to kiss her face, which glowed with emotion; and as he pressed her to his heart, Emmy experienced the blissful sensation of peace and security after the storms which had passed over her.

And this feeling accompanied her to the house of her step-mother, to whom Siword had imparted his engagement, and with whom he had arranged all that was necessary, so that Emmy on coming home found everything settled, and readily gave her consent to the early completion of the marriage.

The day on which Otto, Emmy, and Seyna parted from each other had been a sorrowful one.

All Siword's powers of persuasion were necessary to make Otto persevere in carrying out his plan, for every day, as the time for starting on his tour approached, he became more vacillating and wavering, and when he actually did set off it was with tears that the three took leave of each other.

On the same day that Otto started and Emmy returned to Dilburg, Seyna was taken by Siword to Sollingen, where the governess had at length arrived.

Emmy would have liked very much to accompany Siword to Sollingen, in order to make acquaintance with her future home, but as it was the frequently expressed wish of her intended husband that she should not see Sollingen until he conducted her there as his wife, Emmy would not speak of it.

'If I were still about to buy Sollingen,' said he, 'then it would naturally be a matter of great interest to me that the place should please you; but as in any case it must be your home, I wish you to see it for the first time in the best possible light, and I will reserve for myself the chaos which precedes the getting it in order.'

In the weeks before the marriage Siword went continually backwards and forwards between Dilburg and Sollingen, which were distant from each other two hours by railway, or three hours in driving by a cross country road.

And these weeks were more agreeable to Emmy than he could have ventured to hope.

Mrs Welters, cold as ever, nevertheless helped with a certain readiness in the many preparations which had to be made in the short time. Mina was away on a visit, and was not to return till after the wedding; and Elizabeth, zealous for Emmy's interest as always, had never shown herself more cordial and useful than now when she was on the point of separating from her.

The only one who seemed much disturbed by this last period before the marriage was William de GraaffWilliam, with his pale, worn countenance, that would have excited Emmy's compassion, had she not observed. with some fear, as before, the angry looks, full of hate, which he cast on her. In words, he uttered nothing. If possible he was even less talkative than before, and his restlessness seemed to have reached such a height that it was impossible for him to sit still.

Instead of sitting silently with a book before him, he now walked up and down the room with restless steps the whole evening; and any of the family who ventured to remark upon it, received for answer an angry retort to mind their own business and let him alone.

I believe that his mother conjectured something, although not the whole truth, of what was passing in him.

Her anxious looks frequently rested on him. Her voice lost somewhat of its ordinary harsh tone when she addressed him, as if it were softened by a compassionate tenderness, and more than once Emmy met her piercing eyes, as if they were enquiring of her the confirmation of what she observed in William.

Strengthened by the feeling of her own innocence, Emmy endured these enquiring looks as calmly as possible; but even if it were only on account of William, and the uneasiness which his behaviour continued to cause her, she was thankful for the prospect of soon going into a new neighbourhood.

She hoped that absence would calm down the feeling that had been transformed in William de Graaff from passionate love to hate, and would gradually restore the balance of his mind; and that whatever she might have to fear from him while at home would find its natural termination in her departure.

But in these last weeks before the marriage Emmy had not much time for reflection.

There was so much to provide, so many preparations to think of; so much to do and to order; so much to consult about with Siword as to the arrangements of their house; so much to choose and to inspect, that Emmy's days flew like minutes.

In the evenings Elizabeth came to Emmy's room under pretence of brushing her hair in Emmy's company, but really in order to chatter, sometimes till midnight, about the future, and all the rose-coloured dreams which surrounded Elizabeth's intended marriage.

The similarity of both their positions as intended

brides produced a greater intimacy between Emmy and Elizabeth than had ever before existed, notwithstanding their previous friendship for each other, and the near approach of their separation seemed to draw them still closer together.

When Elizabeth went at last to her own room, sleep did not require to be waited for by Emmy, after a long troublesome day, and with the dawn of the following morning the pressure of business recommenced as before.

So passed the time with Emmy as in a species of intoxication in which both herself and her earlier sensations and emotions were lost.

The first week-the second week-the third weekand Siword and Emma were betrothed; three, four, five, six, seven days-and, as in a fast gallop, when there is nothing on which the eye can rest, when sky and water, mountain and valley, tree and bush melt together in a confused panorama, and the only sensation is that one is rushing forward-so everything hurried on and on till the last day before Emmy's marriage.

All was in order-the trunks were packed. Siword had gone for the last time to Sollingen to bring back Seyna, who was to attend the ceremony on the following day. Elizabeth was taking a walk with Lieutenant Smit, and Emmy was alone in her room, sitting before the window in that favourite spot where, during all the time of her stay in her parental home, she had suffered so much sorrow, had wrestled with so much fear, where once cheerful dreams and visions of the future had visited her, and where a few months back she had sunk down in despairing sorrow.

Many thoughts and sensations pressed upon her in that hour. She pictured to herself how on an evening like this a daughter would feel who was leaving her