Mrs. Lee made no reply. But her husband did not fail to observe that she lost, almost instantly, that rigid erectness with which she had been sitting, nor that the motion of her needle had ceased. "My shirts are better made, and whiter than those of any other man in our shop," said Lee, encouraged to go on. "Are they?" Mrs. Lee's voice was low, and had in it a slight huskiness. She did not turn her face, but her husband saw that she leaned a little toward him. He had broken through the ice of reserve, and all was easy now. His hand was among the clouds, and a few feeble rays were already struggling through the rift it had made. "Yes, Mary," he answered softly, "and I've heard it said more than once, what a good wife Andrew Lee must have." Mrs. Lee turned her face towards her husband. There was light it it, and light in her eye. But there was something in the expression of the countenance that puzzled him a little. "Do you think so?" she asked quite soberly. "What a question!" ejaculated Andrew Lee, starting up and going around to the side of the table where his wife was sitting.--"What a question, Mary!" he repeated, as he stood before her. "Do you?" It was all she said. "Yes, darling," was the warmly-spoken answer, and he stooped down and kissed her.--"How strange that you should ask me such a question!" "If you would only tell me so now and then, Andrew, it would do me good." And Mrs. Lee arose, and leaning against the manly breast of her husband, stood and wept. What a strong light broke in upon the mind of Andrew Lee. He had never given to his faithful wife even the small reward of praise for all the loving interest she had manifested daily, until doubt of his love had entered her soul, and made the light thick darkness. No wonder that her face grew clouded, nor that what he considered moodiness and ill-nature took possession of her spirit. "You are good and true, Mary. My own dear wife. I am proud of you--I love you--and my first desire is for your happiness. Oh, if I could always see your face in sunshine, my home would be the dearest place on earth." "How precious to me are your words of love and praise, Andrew," said Mrs. Lee, smiling up through her tears into his face. "With them in my ears, my heart can never lie in shadow." How easy had been the work for Andrew Lee. He had swept his hand across the cloudy horizon of his home, and now the bright sunshine was streaming down, and flooding that home with joy and beauty. SUCCESS IS THE REWARD OF PERSEVERANCE