“I am glad indeed if I have been to you all that you say, Cinthia, dear, for you were indeed in need of love and care when we first met. I have lavished on you a mother’s love, while you have repaid me with a daughter’s, I know.” “Yes--yes; but I could not fill up the void caused by your own child’s loss.” “You have been a great comfort to me, dear, and I hope never to be parted from you in life unless you marry, and even then, dear, I shall manage to see you often, as a mother clings to a married daughter.” “How I wish that you and papa would marry!” cried the eager girl. “My dear, do not nourish such a thought. It can never be. I am sure that both our hearts are buried in our dear ones’ graves.” “It does not seem as if papa really loved my mother much, or he would care more for me,” Cinthia exclaimed, with the old resentment of her father’s strange indifference. “My dear, do not judge him harshly. Mr. Dawn looks to me like a man capable of strong affections, but he also bears on his face the signs of tragic happenings that have blighted the promise of his life. If you will take my judgment for it, dearest, your father is a most unhappy and weary man!” continued Madame Ray. CHAPTER XXVI. ’NEATH SOUTHERN SKIES. “A fairy land of flowers and fruits and sunshine And crystal lakes and overarching forests.” “Oh, madame, what a perfect morning! There is not the slightest cloud in the clear blue sky, and the sheen of sunlight on the lake is dazzling. The air is odorous with the scent of flowers, and the little birds are almost splitting their throats with divine melody. What a contrast to the bleakness of November in the North, or even in my own loved Virginia, that three years ago I left in the midst of a whirling snow-storm!” cried Cinthia Dawn, as she walked out on the long broad gallery that surrounded her friend’s Floridian home. A fairer scene or a sweeter home would be hard to find than the pretty estate that the actress had opportunely inherited a year before from a deceased great aunt. It was situated in Marion County, on the suburbs of the pretty village Weir Park, near the crystal Weir Lake famed as being the prettiest lake in Florida, several miles in extent, with a magnificent expanse of white sandy beach glittering in the golden sunlight. Lodge Delight was the suggestive name of the white villa, surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees, where Madame Ray had brought her beloved young guest, and for several months they had sojourned here almost happily but for the haunting memories that made real happiness impossible to either, even in so Eden-like a scene. But at least they were devoted to each other, and led an almost idyllic life in the beautiful health-giving country so much sought in winter by visitors from the frozen North, while Cinthia’s father still lingered in California, though he wrote his daughter that she might expect him now at any time.