The Argosy — page 365: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Missing Rubies. 347 were hung with moss velvet, and heaped with ivy. In the centre of the lawn the grey river-god seemed to bask in the sunlight ; the mullioned windows glittered, and the walls took a warmer red as the sun got low. From some such palace as this, the Sleeping Beauty must have come forth at her happy waking, and made her way through sweet tumbled grasses, and showers of falling blossoms— ‘*To that new world which is the old.” Beatrice was not afraid to enjoy her happiness now. She could walk silently beside Godwin, too joyous to talk much, with peace shining in her deep eyes. : How bewildering was the beauty of that place on a summer day ! Silence, perfumes, beautiful green shadows, flashes of bright water, merry voices, mellowed by distance ; all was like the realisation of some old dream of bliss ! Most girls have such dreams. Some never realise them at all. Others take late in life the joy that was denied to their early youth. These last are blessed ; they accept their bliss with a calm heart and a thankful spirit. But still more blessed are those who enter their earthly Paradise with feet that have never been wearied with the long road, and souls that have been undarkened by the shadows of dis- appointment and regret. To Beatrice, in the bloom of her young womanhood, fate was kind. She looked down on the daisies at her feet, and then up to the face by her side, Its expression was more tranquil than she had ever seen it before. Godwin could love now in happiness as well as in sorrow. He had the means of clearing his name. He could look the whole world in the face without the dread of a taunt or a sneer. As he met the tender gaze of those blue eyes, he felt that she might read his heart. He was thinking of the great blessing of her true love, and the new life it had brought to him. “ My darling,” he said, suddenly, ‘ from the very first moment of our meeting, you became my good angel! What have I ever done to deserve you? Hundreds of better. men long all their lives for such a gift as is bestowed upon me.” “Don’t praise me too much,” she answered, with a blush and smile. ‘Remember how many faults there are in me. Think of my impetuous, unconventional conduct at Fairbridge! I believe I should have died if I had stayed there; but of course I ought to have stayed.” “ T can’t think that you ought to have stayed. If it had not been for your ‘impetuous conduct,’ dear, I might never have found out the mystery of the necklace. It was one of your impulses which sent you to Vordenberg, and prompted you to open your heart to him.” “Yes, but I don’t mean always to be guided by my impulses. When—when. ie T, comicbooks.com