"If not Cophetua, what then,--what then ?" Passing the table, he took up the miniature again.

"The villain of the piece, I suppose, Evelyn ?" he asked.
The pure and pensive face seemed to answer him.

He put the picture hastily down, and recommenced his pacing to and fro.

From the garden below came the heavy odor of lilies, and the whisper of the river tried the nerves.
Haward went to the window, and, leaning out, looked, as now each night he looked, up and across the creek toward the minister's house.

To-night there was no light to mark it; it was late, and all the world without his room was in darkness.