quiet even in her agitation,--as if all her emotions had been subdued
to the peaceful tenor of her life. Yet their faces, all unlike as
they were, had an expression that seemed not so alien,--a glow of
kindred feeling, flashing upward anew from half-extinguished embers.

"You are welcome home!" said Faith Egerton.

But Cranfield did not immediately answer; for his eye had been caught
by an ornament in the shape of a Heart, which Faith wore as a brooch
upon her bosom. The material was the ordinary white quartz; and he
recollected having himself shaped it out of one of those Indian
arrowheads, which are so often found in the ancient haunts of the red
men. It was precisely on the pattern of that worn by the visionary
Maid. When Cranfield departed on his shadowy search he had bestowed
this brooch, in a gold setting, as a parting gift to Faith Egerton.

"So, Faith, you have kept the Heart!" said he, at length.

"Yes," said she, blushing deeply; then more gayly, and what else have
you brought me from beyond the sea?"

"Faith!" replied Ralph Cranfield, uttering the fated words by an
uncontrollable impulse, "I have brought you nothing but a heavy
heart! May I rest its weight on you?"

"This token, which I have worn so long," said Faith, laying her
tremulous finger on the Heart, "is the assurance that you may!"

"Faith! Faith!" cried Cranfield, clasping her in his arms, "you have
interpreted my wild and weary dream!"