against all the serpents in the world. We shall have a glorious drive
home! How do you like my carriage?"

It was perfect, so were the horses, so was the groom in his neat livery,
so was the dogcart waiting for the luggage, so was the magnificent
retriever that ran with the carriage. What a drive it was! Of all
seasons, in all climes, give me an English spring. The hedges were
covered with white and pink hawthorn; the apple trees were all in bloom;
the air was redolent of mariets. The white lambs were in the meadows;
the leaves were springing on the trees; the birds singing.

"It is like a new life, John," said the happy young fellow by my side;
then, quite unable to keep his thoughts or his words long away from her,
he continued: "Frances will be so pleased to see you; we have talked of
nothing else for a week."

"I am afraid that she will be disappointed when she sees me, Lance."

"No, indeed," he replied, heartily. "You look better than you did when
you went to America, John--you look younger, less haggard, less worn.
Perhaps you have found some comfort?"

"Not of the kind you mean, Lance," I answered, "and I never shall."

"Ah," he said, musingly, "what mischief one bad woman can make! And she
was a bad woman, this false love of yours, John."

"If she had been a good one, she would have been true," I replied.

"I think," said Lance, musingly, "that in all this world there is