12/17 The grass was soft and fine as velvet. Cardo approached it with sorrowful reverence; he stooped to read the inscription. Died, August 30th." The blank space puzzled him for a moment, but, as he stood with folded arms looking down at the little mound, a sudden revelation seemed to flood his mind and enlighten him more thoroughly than all that he had hitherto heard and done. She had kept faithfully--ah, too faithfully--her promise to hide the secret of their marriage until he should come himself to reveal it. |