"And I hope," said Mr. Clifford, "that you will have many happy days
and nights in the future."

"And I hope so too," said Joe, shaking hands with Paul and Belle as they
rose to go.

Mr. Clifford accompanied Belle to her door, and as they parted she said,
"This is a glorious work in which it is our privilege to clasp hands."

"It is and I hope," but as the words rose to his lips, he looked into
the face of Belle, and it was so radiant with intelligent tenderness and
joy, that she seemed to him almost like a glorified saint, a being too
precious high and good for common household uses, and so the remainder
of the sentence died upon his lips and he held his peace.




Chapter XV


"I have resolved to dissolve partnership with Charles," said Augustine
Romaine to his wife, the next morning after his son's return from the
Champaign supper at John Anderson's.

"Oh! no you are not in earnest, are you? You seem suddenly to have lost
all patience with Charlie."

"Yes I have, and I have made up my mind that I am not going to let him