'My cousin, Mr. Thomas Wyndham,' interposed Floyd, with a solemn bow. 'Gwenny, your most devoted!' He took her by both shoulders, and kissed her on the forehead and cheek. At the same time he glanced over her shoulder at me with an expression in his eyes, half comical, half rueful. But I was as yet too much bewildered to understand. 'She's better-looking than I expected,' he remarked to me. 'The image of that old picture of her grandmother that used to hang over my mantelpiece at College--recollect?--only her hair and eyes are lighter.' Then, in a flash, I comprehended the mystery of the recognition. But I had no time to dwell upon it then. The old uncle was shaking me by the hand, congratulating me on something, I knew not what, and introducing the Colonel and Mr. Frisby. The latter almost embraced me. 'My dear Mr. Thomas, I am so glad--so glad! My warmest congratulations also--what? you haven't heard. Why, we have recovered nearly your whole fortune, my dear sir. Faust, the absconder, has been at last arrested. You are a rich man again. So glad, so glad!' I was speechless. I could only turn from one to another, with a dazed look, as of one half asleep. At this juncture the curtain of the inner room was again drawn aside, and lo! the lieutenant with his sword drawn, but with an expression anything but warlike on his pasty and woe-begone features. On seeing his colonel, he trembled visibly, and saluted with a shaking hand. 'Ha, sir, you are here, are you?' exclaimed the Colonel grimly. 'I have been told about you, Herr Faust. Yes, sir, you will dispense with the "von" for the future and spell your name correctly--you are the son of a swindler and a convict. To-morrow you will appear before a court-martial. We shall see, sir, what shall be done to a fellow who disgraces his uniform by insulting ladies and--but go, sir!--Ladies and gentlemen,' added the old officer, turning to us and bowing, 'pardon me that I so much forget myself.' After the poor lieutenant had slunk away, the conversation had become general, and numberless were the questions asked and the explanations volunteered. But I have only a dim and hazy recollection of what was said. I kept as far away from Miss Gwendolen as possible, and scarcely looked at her; but for all that, she was the only person in the room whose every word and motion I felt and saw. I did not know whether to commiserate Floyd, or to envy him. Perhaps he scarcely knew himself, at first. But since, a few years afterwards, he married the beautiful Miss Maryland, of Baltimore, and has been the happiest of husbands ever since, I have ceased to feel anxious or conscience-smitten on his account. Shall I go on and tell you how it all turned out? My wife, who is leaning over my shoulder as I write these last words, says, 'No.' And I submit; for once, years ago, when she was a Miss Wyndham, she made me the happiest of mankind by saying, 'Yes.' KILDHURM'S OAK.