As it was, for months after, "life crept
on a broken wing," if not "through
cells of madness," yet verily "through
i naunts ol horror and fear. O, the
j weary, weary days and months when I
I longed piteously for rest ! when sun
I shine was torture, and every shadow
filled with horror unspeakable ; when
my soul's craving was for death ; to be
allowed to creep away from the terror
which lurked in the softest murmur of
the summer breeze, the flicker of the
shadow of the tiniest leaf on the sunny
grass, in every corner and curtain-fold
in my dear old home. But love con
quered all, and I can tell my story now,
with awe and wonder, it is trne, but
quietly and calmly :
Ten years ago I was living with my
OLly brother in one of the quaint ivy
grown red-gabled rectories which are so
j picturesquely scattered over the fair
breadth of .England. V e were orphans
Archibald and I ; and I had been the
busy, happy mistress of his jfrtty home
for only one year after leaving school,
when Robert Drave asked me to be his
I wife. Robert and Archie were old
friends, and my new home, Draye's
. t . , - - i
Court, was only separated from the
nircnntiorA liv An nl.l tmtv wall a lnwr
i , -
limn ern.l.lAil tl.tftr vltlpli Ailmitr4il n
of the manor ; and it was he who had
given Archie the living of Draye ir the
Wold.
