“I’ll tell you what is impressed on my mind; this Lucy’s got the consumption, without any kind of doubt, and if you’ve no objections to a widower, you may——” She did not finish the sentence, for Maddy started in horror. To her there was something murderous in the very idea, and she thrust it quickly aside. Guy Remington was not for her, she said, and her wish was to forget him. If she could get through the dreaded to-morrow, she should do better. There had been a load upon her the whole day, a nightmare she could not shake off, and she had come to Lucy’s room, in the hope of leaving her burden there, of praying her pain away. Would Mrs. Noah leave her awhile, and see that no one came? The good woman could not refuse, and going out, she left Maddy by the window, watching the sun as it went down, and then watching the wintry twilight deepen over the landscape, until all things were blended together in one great darkness, and Jessie, seeking for her, found her at last fainting upon the floor. Maddy was glad of the racking headache which kept her in her bed the whole of the next day, glad of any excuse to stay away from the family, talking of Guy, and what was transpiring in England. They had failed to remember the difference in the longitude of the two places; but Maddy forgot nothing, and when the clock struck nine she called Mrs. Noah to her and whispered faintly: “They were to be married before twelve, you know, so it was over two hours ago, and Guy is lost forever!” Mrs. Noah had no consolation to offer, and only pressed the hot, feverish hands, while Maddy turned her face to the wall, and did not speak again, except to whisper incoherently, as she half slumbered, half woke: “Did Guy think of me, when he promised to love her, and does he, can he see how miserable I am?” Maddy was indeed passing through deep waters, and the day and the night of the fourth of December were the longest, dreariest she ever knew, and could never be forgotten. Once past, the worst was over, and as the rarest metal is purified by fire, so Maddy came from the dreadful ordeal strengthened for what was before her. Both Agnes and Mrs. Noah noticed the strangely beautiful expression of her face when she came down to the breakfast room, while Jessie, as she kissed her pale cheek, whispered: “You look as if you had been with the angels.”