She told him what she meant, and how she had hated him for it, and then they laughed together, but Thornton’s kiss smothered the laugh on Lucy’s lips, for he guessed what her answer was, and that this, his second wooing, was more successful than his first had been. * * * * * “MARRIED, in Rome, on Thursday, April 10th, THORNTON HASTINGS, ESQ., of New York City, to MISS LUCY HARCOURT, also of New York, and niece of Colonel James Hetherton.” Anna was out in the rectory garden bending over a bed of hyacinths when Arthur brought her the paper and pointed to the notice. “Oh, I am so glad, so _glad_, so GLAD!” she exclaimed, emphasizing each successive glad a little more, and setting down her foot as if to give it force. “I have never dared be quite as happy with you as I might,” she continued, leaning lovingly against her husband, “for there was always a thought of Lucy, and what a fearful price she paid for our happiness. But now it is all as it should be, and, Arthur, am I very vain in thinking that she is better suited to Thornton Hastings than I ever was, and that I do better as your wife than Lucy would have done?” A kiss was Arthur’s only answer, but Anna was satisfied, and there rested upon her face a look of perfect content as all that warm spring afternoon she walked in her pleasant garden, thinking of the newly married pair in Rome, and glancing occasionally at the open window of the library where Arthur was, busy with his sermon, his pen moving all the faster for the knowing that Anna was just within his call,—that by turning his head he could see her dear face, and that by and by, when his work was done, she would come in to him, and with her loving words and winsome ways make him forget how tired he was, and thank Heaven again for the great gift bestowed when it gave him Anna Ruthven. THE END. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: 1874. 1874. G. W. CARLETON & CO.] NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS RECENTLY ISSUED BY G. W. CARLETON & CO., Publishers, _Madison Square, New York_. The Publishers, upon receipt of the price in advance, will send any book on this Catalogue by mail, _postage free_, to any part of the United States. All books in this list [unless otherwise specified] are handsomely bound in cloth board binding, with gilt backs, suitable for libraries. Mary J. Holmes’ Works. TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE $1 50 ENGLISH ORPHANS 1 50 HOMESTEAD ON THE HILLSIDE 1 50 ’LENA RIVERS 1 50