When I left her the following morning, I made her promise that she would not go out of the house, unless under sufficient escort, while she in return made me promise that I would not for any length of time stay away from her. With a sad heart I mounted Black Bess to ride back to Trewinion Manor, and watched her until we could no longer see each other as she stood with tearful eyes at the hall door, but it was only to be for a day, for on the morrow I determined I would return. I found my mother anxiously awaiting me when I arrived home. She was, however, relieved beyond measure when I told her of the defeat of Wilfred's schemes. "And you, Roger?" she asked anxiously, "are you going to give me Ruth for a daughter?" I think my answer satisfied her, for a look of contentment came into her eyes. As soon as possible I consulted the old family lawyer, and together we discussed the affairs of the estate. They were quite as bad as Wilfred had declared. Everything he could turn into money he had sold or mortgaged, until there was scarcely any unencumbered property; but the lawyer told me that, with care and economy, I might in a few years replace what Wilfred had so extravagantly wasted. I also visited my sisters, and found them delighted beyond measure at seeing their brother again, and looking forward with joyful anticipations to welcoming their new sister. Altogether my life was very happy, and as I constantly rode over to Morton Hall to see the sweet woman who had promised to be my wife, and watched the gladsome smile that lit up her face whenever she saw me coming, my cup of joy was full. A month later we were wedded in the old church, from which I had carried her more than a year before. When I entered the gloomy building, I almost felt like shuddering, so awful were its associations, and when I saw the clergyman take his stand near the very spot from which I had turned back the stone, to enter the resting-place of the dead, I could not help picturing what I had then seen. I think Ruth must have felt it too, for her hand trembled in mine. Perchance she thought of the awful doom from which, by the mercy of God, I had rescued her; but when I heard the old clergyman pronounce us man and wife, and then repeat in solemn tones the words that were full of meaning to me, "whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder," my heart thrilled with a new joy, for I felt I possessed the greatest blessing on earth. And then as the bells pealed out, while with Ruth on my arm we traversed the long nave, it seemed as though the angels of God were there to smile on our wedding morn. And what of Ruth? In her great happiness, she could scarcely grieve for the long years of pain, and as she nestled nearer to me, on our way back to the Hall, she whispered that no joy could be as great as ours, because for years we had both despaired of ever meeting each other again.