pair I had decided on a trip to the Continent, that if possible I
might forget her, and here was what seemed to me, a message
from her.
I tossed the letter aside and leaning back in my chair allowed
myself drift into that realm where dreams and air-castles hold
sway. Outside, the wind howled and shrieked, as from a baffled
effort, sending little clouds of smoke from the fireplace, while the
rain beat steadily against the windows. At intervals a flash of
lightning would turn night into day and reveal the old castle,
grim and spectre-like.
I felt a delight in the storm. The tumult in my heart seemed
to harmonize with this wild, reckless fury, and the higher it arose
the more I exulted in the strife of the elements without, and it was
with a feeling of regret that I heard the wind dying away.
There was no one near. Even the cat which had slept un
mindful of the storm ceased to be company. It was one of those
times when solitude is better than a world of sympathy. A sudden
gust drove another flurry of smoke into the room, and curling
above my head it spread out in fantastic figures against the wall.
The stornywas only a distant mutter, the blaze gave a last fitful
leap, flickered, and died out. Just then the Christmas hells pealed
forth their glad tidings of the birth of New Hope for man, and
up from the street floated the song of the waits as they sang:
" While shepherds watched their flocks by night."
That night I wrote Katharine a letter and was in suspense till
an answer came.
Home Ward bound. There was nothing but song and laughter
upon the ship all day long; the water never seemed more blue nor
sky more clear, but the ship could not sail fast enough for me,
and after we last sighted New York it seemed an age before we
reached the dock. Then we landed, landed among a crowd of
eager watchers, but I saw only one. 'Later, as we were driving
home, Katharine said to me: " How foolish you men are. Did
you really believe that I meant all that I told you when we last
A CHRISTMAS ROMANCE