Framed in the doorway, she stood for a moment like a picture. Paler and slighter than in the old days, she had lost none of her beauty. Stephen had cause to be proud of his bride. There would be no lovelier woman in Wealdshire than the future mistress of the Hurst. And yet, if Jack could have seen her that moment, what agony her face would have cost him; for his eyes, quickened by his passionate love, would have read and understood that subtle change that had fallen on the beautiful face; would have read the settled melancholy which sat enthroned on the dark eyes, and gave them the dreamy, far-away look which never left them for a moment. "Communing with the past, she walked; Alive, yet dead to all the world." Slowly she crossed the room, and stood just where Stephen had stood, and looked into the fire; but not as he had looked--triumphantly, joyfully; but with an absent, dreamy air. Mrs. Davenant put out her hand, and touched her arm. "Una!" She turned her head, and looked at her questioningly, with a weary, uninterested gaze. "Una, he--Stephen has told me. Oh, my darling, I hope you will be happy!" Una smiled--a cold, mechanical smile. "Happy? Yes, he says I shall be happy. Do you think," and she looked calmly at the anxious, nervous face, "do you think I shall be happy?" Mrs. Davenant drew her toward her. "My dear, you frighten me. You--you are so--so strange and cold. Cold! Your hands are like ice. Oh, Una, do you know what it means--this that you are going to do? It is not too late. Think, Una. You know how I love you, dear. That I would give all the world to call you--what you are, my heart of hearts--my own daughter. But, oh, Una! if you think, if you are not quite sure that you will be happy----" Una looked straight at the fire. "He says so," she said, in the same hard, cold voice; "he is clever and wise. He is your son; why do you doubt him?" Mrs. Davenant shivered. "I--I don't doubt him, dear. Yes, he is my son; he has been a good son to me. But you are to be his wife; think." "I have thought," said Una, quietly. "It will make him happy--he says so; and the rest does not matter to me. Yes, I have thought; I am tired with thinking"; and she put her hand to her brow with a sharp gesture, half wild, half weary. "I will make him happy, and I shall always be with you, whom I love. What does the rest matter?" Mrs. Davenant uttered a little moan. "And--and have you quite forgotten?" Una looked at her calmly, but with a faint shadow in her eyes and a touch of pain on her lips.