The weeks followed, and by careful nursing from her two faithful attendants, Marie Colchis regained her health, strength and beauty. The letter in the golden case had been read by all the girls, and long and earnest were the conversations which had followed. Marie learned of the resurrection of her lover, and of his entrance into the family of the President; she became fully informed concerning the period of time it was in the world's history, and all the details attending her own lifeless sleep and miraculous return to the world of the living. It seemed but a day since she was with her father in the cavern on Guadalupe Island; it was but a moment that her thoughts had been away from her lover. With all the fire and passion of her former life not decreased, but increased, by long years of patient waiting, she longed for the time when she could meet him, could see him, and hear his loved voice. She had been told of his apparent lack of interest, his seemingly moody ways, and his careworn and sad expression of countenance. She felt the cause; she knew it: he still loved his little girl-wife of Duke's Lane. And she? Ah, God! she worshiped him! CHAPTER XX It was the 10th of January when Cobb and Hugh returned from their visit to New England and reached the city of Washington. Hugh was not at all pleased to find Marie gone; as for Cobb, it mattered not whether Mollie was there or not. To be sure, he admired the girl; loved her, but as a brother. All the passion which he had first thought to be in his heart for his friend's sister had vanished into a simple brotherly regard. "Hello!" cried a familiar voice as Hugh came from the executive mansion that evening. "Hello, Lester!" exclaimed Hugh, extending his hand. "Glad to see you back, old man." "I can't say that I'm glad to get back. The girls are gone, father says," returned Hugh, in a woe-begone tone of voice. "Yes," laconically. "Given us the slip, eh?" "Looks very much that way." "Did she leave any word for you?" "Yes; a short letter. Gone to visit her aunt in San Francisco, or some other seaport, I believe," answered Lester, dubiously. "Father says she went in a great hurry; don't know the cause of her sudden departure. Looks funny, doesn't it?" inquiringly. "Very," knowingly. "Bad, eh?" with a scowl. "Horrible!" "Well, you hear me, young man; when your sister walks off on an unknown journey and to be gone an unknown time, she generally comes back and finds me on an equally unknown voyage, and having about as much idea when that voyage will end as a jackass knows about Sunday;" and he thrust his hands savagely into his coat-tail pockets, and assumed the air of a man perfectly indifferent as to what the world liked or disliked.