She smiled as she looked at him.
"No," she replied. "How could there be ill-will between you and me? You did right--in your place I should have acted as you did."
He caressed the fair, sweet face.
"Thank you, my darling," he said. "How thin you are!" he added. "How you have worn yourself away with fretting! What must I do to bring the roses back to this sweet face, and the light that I remember so well to the dear eyes?"
She looked up at him, her whole soul in her eyes.
"You have but one thing to do, and that is--love me," she said; "and then I shall be the happiest wife in all the world. If a choice were offered me of all the good gifts of this world, mine would be my husband's love."
Lord Arleigh looked thoughtfully at her. The sunshine glistened through the green boughs, and touched her graceful golden head as with an aureole of glory.
"I am beginning to think," he said, "that all that happens is for the best. We shall be wiser and better all our lives for having suffered."
"I think so too," observed Madaline.
"And my darling," he said, "I am quite sure of another thing. There are many good gifts in the world--wealth, fame, rank, glory--but the best gift of all is that which comes straight from Heaven--the love of a pure, good wife."