One cool yet sunny afternoon the lovely widow went down to the shore for her accustomed row in her pretty namesake, the _Bonnibel_, which had been newly repaired and trimmed. To her surprise, the little bark was not there, rocking idly about at its own sweet will. "Who can have borrowed it?" she wondered, sitting down on the sands to watch for its return. But after awhile her hands dropped into her lap and clasped each other loosely; she fell into a fit of musing, and forgot to watch the sea for return of her truant bark. There was a vague doubt and trouble tugging at her heart-strings as she recalled some lines she had loved long ago: "And yet I know past all doubting, truly, A knowledge greater than grief can dim-- I know as he loved, he will love me duly, Yea, better, even better than I love him. "And as I walk by the vast calm river, The awful river so dread to see, I say, 'Thy breadth and thy depth forever Are bridged by his thoughts that cross to me.'" The keel of the _Bonnibel_ grated suddenly on the shore; the boatman sprang out by her side. She looked up into the dark eyes of Leslie Dane. "No, do not rise," he said, kneeling down beside her as she made a nervous movement, "I do not wish to startle you." He held out his hand and she laid hers silently within it for a moment. "I have been traveling all over my native land with my friend, Mr. Muller," he said, "and we talk of returning to Europe soon; but I could not go, Bonnibel, till I came down here to thank you for--that day when you saved my life at such a sacrifice." "It is a canceled debt," she answered, quietly. "Do not forget that you were about to give your life to save my secret." There was silence for a moment. She was looking out at the ocean with troubled, blue eyes, and a faint quiver on the tender lips. He was looking at her as he looked long ago with his heart in his eyes. Suddenly he caught both hands in his and held them tightly. "It was a dreadful mistake I made that night when I thought I had bound you so truly my own," he said. "Bonnibel, I wonder whether you are glad or sorry now that it happened so?" "Perhaps it was for the best," she answered, gently, "the way things fell out." A shade of disappointment crossed his handsome features. "Then, Bonnibel, my darling, loved through it all," he cried, "you would not be willing to give yourself to me now?" She smiled and lifted her eyes to his. In their blue and tender depths he saw shining on him the unchangeable love of a lifetime. "Make the bond a tighter one, next time, Leslie," she said, with a shy and radiant smile. He stooped and clasped her fondly in his arms. "Ah, darling," he answered, holding her tightly clasped to his wildly beating heart, "there shall be no blind, boyish mistake this time. There shall be a license that shall hold you mine as fast and tight _forever_ as I hold you now in my arms!" THE END. Transcriber's Notes: