He attempted to release himself, but she clung to him, and clasping her arms around his neck, said in a strained, husky tone,—
“Dr. Grey, did you bring your—your wife to Paris?”
“I have no wife.”
She uttered a thrilling cry of delight, threw her head back, and gazed steadily into his clear, calm, blue eyes.
“Oh, sir, they told me you had married Mrs. Gerome.”
He placed her in the chair, and kneeling down beside her, took her quivering face in his palms and touched her forehead softly with his lips.
“The only woman I ever wished to make my wife is bound for life to a worthless husband. Salome, I loved her before I knew this fact; and, since I learned (soon after your departure) that she was separated from the man whom she had wedded, I have not seen her, although she still resides at 457 ‘Solitude.’ Salome, I shall never marry, and I ask you now to come back to Jessie and Stanley, who will soon require your care and guidance, for it is my intention to return to the position in the U.S. naval service, which only Janet’s feeble health induced me to resign. God bless you, dear child! I wish you were indeed my own sister, for I am growing very proud of my brave, honest friend,—my patient lace-weaver.”
The girl’s head sank lower and lower until it touched her knees, and sobs rendered her words scarcely audible.
“If you deem me worthy to be called your friend, it is because of your example, your influence. Oh, Dr. Grey,—but for you,—but for my hope of meeting you in the kingdom of Christ, I shudder to think what I might have been! Under all circumstances I have been guided by what I imagined would have been your wishes,—your advice; and my reward is rich indeed! Your confidence, your approbation! Earth holds no recompense half so precious.”
“Thank God! my prayers have been abundantly answered, my highest hopes of your future fully realized. Henceforth, let us with renewed energy labor faithfully in the vast, whitening fields of Him who declares, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.’”