“Oh, no, although we were both strongly attracted to each other at once. She was ill; she had seen sorrow something akin to mine—that I knew as soon as I looked into her sad eyes—and just as I had discovered its nature, and was seeking a better acquaintance with her, she and her father suddenly disappeared from Newport. I learned through Mr. Tressalia that they had gone to Saratoga, and, being determined to know something more of her, and wishing also to visit Saratoga, we followed them thither. Immediately upon our appearance Mr. Dalton became strangely excited, and behaved in the most unaccountable manner. “We arrived at night, while they were at a garden-party. We went to seek them, and, after a short interview, Editha and Mr. Dalton withdrew. Early the next morning, before any of us had arisen, they had departed, leaving no trace behind them as to their destination.” “Aha! Mr. Dalton must have had some suspicion of who you were, and, for reasons of his own, desired to keep the knowledge from Editha,” exclaimed Earle, getting really excited over this strange history. CHAPTER XLVI “WHAT A STRANGE STORY!” “Did you ever meet Mr. Dalton before?” Earle asked, excusing himself for his involuntary interruption. “No, never; but I will soon explain how he recognized me, though I should never have known anything of him—should never have found my child even then, had it not been for your cousin, Paul Tressalia,” replied madam. “Poor Paul!” Earle sighed, thinking how his hopes were doomed to be blighted at every turn. “Mr. Tressalia has suffered deeply,” madam returned, “but he is rising above it nobly. I really believe if it had not been for his kind and judicious care of Editha after he returned to Newport, she would have sunk into a decline. He bravely renounced all his hopes of winning her, when she told him that she could never love another, and devoted himself to cheering her, and no one has expressed himself more truly glad over these recent discoveries than your noble cousin.” “He is a truly brave man, and deserves a better fate than has overtaken him just in the prime of his life,” Earle said, regretfully. “A ‘better fate’ will yet come to him, I feel sure, and his life will yet be rounded and completed by the hand of One who knows best how to fashion the lives He has given us,” madam answered, with grave thoughtfulness.