Matty was present at that time, and had I not been blind I should have seen how his whole soul was bound up in her, even while kissing me. I regarded her as a child, and so

she was; but men sometimes love children, you know. When she was

fifteen, she left New Haven. I, too, had ceased to be a schoolgirl,

but I still remained in the city and wrote to her regularly, until

at last your father came to me, and with the light of a great joy

shining all over his face, told me she was to be his bride on her

sixteenth birthday.

She would have written it herself, he said, only

she was a bashful little creature, and would rather he should tell

me. I know not what I did, for the blow was sudden, and took my

senses away. He had been so kind to me of late--had visited me so

often, that my heart was full of hope. But it was all gone now.

Matty Reed was preferred to me, and while my Spanish blood boiled at

the fancied indignity, I said many a harsh thing of her--I called

her designing, deceitful, and false; and then in my frenzy quitted

the room. I never saw Harry, again, for he left the city next

morning; but to my dying hour I shall not forget the expression of

his face when I talked to him of Matty. Turn away, Maude, turn away!

for there is the same look now upon your face. But I have repented

of that act, though not till years after. I tore up Mattie's

letters. I. said I would burn the soft brown tress--"

"Oh, woman, woman! you did not burn my mother's hair!" and with a

shudder Maude unwound the soft, white arm which so closely encircled

her.

"No, Maude, no. I couldn't. It would not leave my fingers, but

coiled around them with a loving grasp. I have it now, and esteem it

my choicest treasure. When I heard that you were born, my heart

softened toward the young girl. Mother and I wrote, asking that

Harry's child might be called for me. I did not disguise my love for

him, and I said it would be some consolation to know that his

daughter bore my name. My letter did not reach them until you had

been baptized Matilda, which was the name of your mother and

grandmother, but to prove their goodness, they ever after called you

Maude."

"Then I was named for you;" and Maude Remington came back to the

embrace of Maude Glendower, who, kissing, her white brow, continued:

"Two years afterward I found myself in Vernon, stopping for a night

at the hotel. 'I will see them in the morning,' I said; 'Harry,

Matty, and the little child;' and I asked the landlord where you

lived. I was standing upon the stairs, and in the partial darkness

he could not see my anguish when he replied, 'Bless you, miss. Harry

Remington died a fortnight ago.'"




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