I passed by the old sun-dial and into the shade of the trees that stood by the moat, where the frogs chattered incessantly in the cool shadows.

I never hear the sound now but something stirs in my breast, which is not regret nor yet entire happiness, but that strange blending of the two which is far above the mere earthly understanding of the latter state.
In the shadow of the cypress trees I approached the chapel quietly, of which the door and windows were alike thrown open.

Standing in the cool shadow of the porch I saw that Lucille was not busy with the flowers, but having completed her task, knelt for a moment before the altar, raising to heaven a face surely as pure as that of any angel there.
I sat down in the porch to wait.
Presently Lucille rose from her knees and turning came towards me.

I thought, as I always did on seeing her after an absence short or long, that I had never really loved her until that moment.
I looked for some expression of surprise in her eyes, but it seemed that she must have known who had entered before she turned.

Instead I saw in her face a strange new tenderness that set my heart beating.
She gave me her hand with a gesture of shyness that was likewise unknown to me.
"Why do you look at me like that ?" she asked, sharply.
"I was wondering what your thought was as you came towards me, Mademoiselle." "Ah!" she answered, with a shake of the head.
[Illustration: "ME VOILA, IF YOU WANT ME"] "It could not have been that you were glad to see me here?
Yet, one would almost have thought--" She broke into a light laugh.
"It is so easy to think wrong," she said.
I had sat down again, hoping that she would do the same; but she remained standing a few yards away from me, her shoulder against the grey old wall of the porch.