"My love, my bride, how beautiful you are," he murmured, "and to think that I believed you dead, drowned in the cruel sea!" She gave a convulsive start, she drew back a little from him, the joy went out of her face. But there was a mist of actual tears--tears of joy--in Dorian's eyes, and he did not note the curious change on her face. "Ah, Nita, how I have suffered!" he cried. "When they told me you were dead, and that it was your wraith I saw on the yacht that night at Fortune's Bay, I went mad with grief. They have told me that I tried to kill myself, that I raved like a madman. But I remembered nothing for weary days until the reawakening to memory of my loss. Ah, love, pardon me these wild words, but it seemed to me that without you I was in hell--in torment without hope of release! Then Van Hise brought me abroad, but, oh, the long, long months of dark despair that followed--I will not dwell on them, my darling, now that I have found you again. And is it not strange I was so long finding out the truth? You must have written me, of course, love. Is it not strange your letters did not reach me? And all the while, my precious one, you must have been wearying for me as I for you, is it not so, sweetheart? "In Norway one night some fellows with us were speaking of beautiful women they had met, and your name was mentioned, my darling--your old name, Nita Farnham. I was struck speechless with emotion, but Van Hise, my true friend, came to the rescue. He asked questions, he learned where you were--you and the Courtneys. The news seemed too good to be true, but Van Hise and I left the party and traveled night and day to reach London, and find out if it were really my bride given back to me from the dead. Thank God, thank God, it is true, we are reunited never to part again!" But, to his amazement, she drew back from his proffered kiss, she recoiled a little from him, whispering in a frightened voice: "Do not make too sure of that, Dorian!" Mountcastle threw back his handsome head with a happy laugh. "No coquetry, my darling, it is quite too late for that," he replied gaily. "You are all my own, you know, and now that I have found you I shall never leave you again." His arm tightened about her waist, his eyes beamed adoring love into hers, but she trembled and gasped in deadly fear as he held her close. She loved him madly, adoringly, but her soul was as pure as a white rose-leaf, and she knew that to remain with Dorian would be deadly sin.