"I do," whispered Isabel.
"Of course he gets angry sometimes," continued Joanna, "and is stern and self-willed and masterful; but he is very gentle and tender underneath, and very unselfish. There is only one thing he has ever done which has really grieved me, and which seemed to me to be inconsistent with the rest of his character; but I suppose when men are very unhappy and bitter they do things for which they are hardly accountable. Still I wish Paul had not written Shams and Shadows."
"He never did write it," cried Isabel, looking up through her tears; "he was far too good and true and noble to write such a nasty, sneering book as that. He could not have done it if he had tried!"
"Then if Paul didn't write it, who did?"
"I did," replied Isabel with a sob, "I was angry with myself and therefore with everything else, and I wrote that horrid book in a fit of temper. And when I saw how people hated it, I was ashamed, and felt I could not bear the disgrace of being known as its author. And then Paul saved me from the consequences of my own folly, and bore the punishment instead of me."
CHAPTER XXI.
As it was in the Beginning.
Sometimes mortals find the portals
Of the fairy-land;
And they straightway through the gateway
Enter, hand in hand.
There was a long silence; then Joanna said gently, "And you doubted if he loved you after this?"
Isabel only sobbed.