"Where have you been this long, long time, Isabel?" asked Elliott, "I have missed you so much."
"Have you, Charley? I'm glad to hear that some one has missed me. The happy past seems almost like a dream, it seems so far away."
"It was too bright to last; don't you think so, Isabel?"
"Perhaps so."
"Ah, those were days to remember, the excursions I had with you and Harley. But I, too, have had my troubles," he added, gravely.
"Who is exempt?" she returned. "But what of Harley, foolish Harley? Whatever possessed him to go to India? But," she added, with a sigh, "it would not have availed him much to have stayed, as it turned out."
"I don't know; I think he would have done more wisely to have remained."
"Why he went, I never could fathom."
"You never knew?"
"Never. He assured me that he had good and sufficient reason, and that papa thought so, too."