prospect of an early wedding. So, you see, my share in her life was
over."

The Boy's face fell. He had not anticipated this ending to the romance.
How could any woman ever have proved faithless to his Father Paul! And
how could he, poor man, still keep his firm, dauntless belief in the
goodness and truth of human nature after so bitter an experience as
this! It shocked his sense of right and justice--this story. He wished
he had not asked to hear it.

"Thank you for telling me, Father Paul. It was kind of you to open your
past life to me like this, and very unkind of me to ask what I should
have known would cost you such pain to tell. I am truly sorry for it
all, Father Paul. Thank you again--and forgive me!"

"It's a relief to open one's heart, sometimes, to one who can
sympathize," replied Verdayne, with a deep sigh. But he felt like a
miserable hypocrite.

Poor Isabella Waring! He had hardly given her a passing thought in
twenty years. And now he had vilified her to help himself out of a tight
corner. Well, she was always a good sort. She wouldn't mind being
used--or even misused--to help out her "old pal" this way. Still it made
him feel mean, and he was glad when the Boy dropped the subject and
turned again to his own difficulties.

But the mind of the young prince was restive, that day. Nothing held his
attention long. It seemed, like his eye, to be roving hither and
thither, seeking something it never could find.