‘Will Walter Beaumont marry Cora now?’ I asked myself many a time, without, however, arriving at any definite conclusion, when a little more than a year succeeding Mr. Douglass’s death, she wrote, begging me to come to her, as she was very lonely, and the presence of an old friend would do her good. I complied with her request, and within a few days was an inmate of her luxurious home, where every thing indicated the wealth of its possessor. And Cora, though robed in deepest black, was more like herself, more like the Cora of other days, than I had seen her before since her marriage. Of her husband she spoke freely and always with respect, saying he had been kinder far to her than she had deserved. Of Walter, too, she talked, appearing much gratified when I told her how he was loved and appreciated by his people. One morning when we sat together in her little sewing room she said, ‘I have done what you perhaps, will consider a very unwomanly act. I have written to Walter Beaumont. Look,’ and she placed in my hand a letter, which she bade me read. It was a wild, strange thing, telling him of the anguish she had endured, of the tears she had shed, of the love which through all she had cherished for him, and begging of him to forgive her if possible, and be to her again what he had been years ago. She was not worthy of him, she said, but he could make her better, and in language the most touching, she besought of him not to cast her off, or despise her because she had stepped so far aside from womanly delicacy as to write to him this letter. ‘I will not insult you,’ she wrote in conclusion, ‘by telling you of the money for which I sold myself, but it is mine now, lawfully mine, and most gladly would I share it with you.’ ‘You will not send him this?’ I said. ‘You cannot be in earnest?’ But she was determined, and lest her resolution should give way, she rang the bell, ordering the servant who appeared to take it at once to the office. He obeyed, and during the day she was unusually gay, singing snatches of old songs, and playing several lively airs upon her piano, which for months had stood unopened and untouched. That evening, when the sun went down and the full moon rose over the city, she asked me to walk with her, and we, ere long, found ourselves several streets distant from that in which she lived. Groups of people were entering a church near by, and from a remark which we overheard, we learned that there was to be a wedding. ‘Let us go in,’ she said, ‘it may be some one I know,’ and entering together, we took our seats just in front of the altar. Scarcely were we seated when a rustling of satin announced the approach of the bridal party, and in a moment they appeared moving slowly up the aisle. My first attention was directed toward the bride, a beautiful young creature, with a fair sweet face, and curls of golden hair falling over her white, uncovered neck. ‘Isn’t she lovely?’ I whispered; but Cora did not hear me.