“If only that dear name could be blotted out as easily from my heart!” She had been at the seashore a week, but she had never heard a word from The Crags. She had written back a little note to the general, who had really seemed the kindest of all, telling him of her safe arrival, but he had taken no notice, it seemed. “Why should they care for me? Is it not more natural they should hate one who came between them and the fortune they expected? Oh, if I could have guessed what was in that dear old lady’s mind, I should have begged her not to disappoint them, but to give me just a little legacy of a few thousands to remember her by, my dear benefactress!” she thought over and over. And then one morning, down upon the beach, just as she had absently traced those two names again upon the glittering sands, there suddenly loomed up before her the tall, thin, stately form of the general. His keen eyes caught the names before the coming wave swept over them. He pretended not to notice, but he said to himself: “Aha! so that is how the land lies?” He could not help thinking what a match this would have been for Laurie, after all, if only they had not forced him into that ill-fated marriage with his cousin. She turned to him, blushing like a rose, and as he clasped her hand with fervor, her heart warmed with the thought that here, at least, was one friend, for his manner was kindness itself. He sat down beside her on a low camp-chair, and talked to her kindly and gently, breaking the news to her gradually, as seemed best. He had got her letter, but had been too much perturbed to answer it, for they had been having more trouble at The Crags. Poor Lelia had quite broken down under their trials, and was ill of nervous prostration--so ill that her mother had taken her, several days ago, to a sanatorium in Philadelphia, and would remain with her until she recovered. Her eyes looked a mute question that he answered by saying: “Laurie has decided to go abroad--in fact, has already gone, and his stay will be of indefinite duration. I have just come from seeing him off in New York, and he has appointed me your guardian in his place. The truth is, his marriage was a sad mistake, and he will never live with Lelia; he has found out things that make it impossible for him to love or respect her again. But his family pride will not permit him to betray her faults and seek release, so his life is wrecked forever, and he has gone into a bitter, voluntary exile!” CHAPTER XLII. WITH THE FLIGHT OF TIME. When Lelia recovered from her strange, somnambulistic trance, and learned from her mother all that had happened in that fateful night, she was like a mad thing for a while. The most terrible denunciations of her husband leaped from her beautiful lips.