key that always hangs upon her watch-chain. The desk was full of
treasures,--letters, flowers, ends of ribbon, all neatly labelled.
She opened a little case and placed in my hands the portrait of a
young man.

I hardly knew how to take it. "It is beautiful," I said; "what a
handsome face!" Then the veil of silence and old age fell from her
heart; she told me the whole tale. Nothing new, of course. She had
loved, and--strange to say!--the man had done likewise; they were
engaged, but because his family was not equal to hers in birth, her
brother-in-law, my grandfather, would not hear of the match, and
obliged her to break it off. Yet another sin to add to his score!

"I think," said I, "that you should have married him, all the same."

The old woman blew her nose, rose, and kissed me.

"You are the first that ever told me so," she said; "I think so,
too."

It was past midnight when I left her, and I must confess that my own
eyes were not dry.

"Is he still alive?" I asked, as I reached the door.

The old woman smiled.

"I don't know," she said, "but I shall know in good time; please God
we shall soon meet again in a better land."