Oh, how he longed to catch her to his heart, smother her with kisses, and caresses, and pour out all the passionate love that was surging so fiercely within him; but he dared not. Already she was laboring under far more excitement than was good for her, and he was afraid to augment it. But again he made a mistake, for the surest way to have soothed and quieted her would have been to assure her of his deep and absorbing affection. He did not realize, in his anxiety to care for her health, that he was withholding just the food which her hungry heart craved and needed most. She longed for the spontaneous overflow of a love akin to her own, and could not be quite satisfied with the quiet, self-contained manner in which he had wooed her. He passed his arm about her slight form and asked, with something of reproach in the forced calmness of his tone: “Can you doubt it, Salome, when I asked you to assume the most sacred relations to me? Can you not trust me?” “Yes,” she answered, regarding him wistfully, and beginning to feel very weary—too weary to longer argue the point; but still not quite satisfied. It had occurred to her that perhaps gratitude for what she had done for him, and pity for her in her illness, her homeless and friendless condition, might perhaps have influenced him somewhat in asking her to marry him; that, perchance, he felt he owed it to her to take care of her and try to restore her to health, in return for her sacrifice in saving his life. But such an interpretation of his motives was like a dagger in her heart, and she put it quickly away, telling herself that he could not be so untrue to himself and her; that his calm, quiet, dignified manner was natural to him, and like deep waters whose powerful undercurrent could not be detected upon the surface. “Thank you,” he said, a tender smile illuminating his face, which she did not see unfortunately, as her wistful glance had drooped an instant before. “And may I tell Dr. Hunt and the superintendent that you will become my wife to-morrow?” “Yes.” As well, perhaps better, to-morrow than later, she thought in her weakness, only too glad to leave the decision and all arrangements to him. * * * * * The next afternoon there was a quiet wedding in the reception-room belonging to the matron of the hospital. It was witnessed only by the nurse who had attended Salome, the matron, the superintendent, and good Dr. Hunt, who asked the privilege of giving the bride away.