WHEN Gaston received her telegram in jail he was seated by a window looking out through the bars on Mt. Pisgah’s distant peak looming in grandeur amid a sea of smaller blue mountain waves. He read the message and his soul was filled with a great peace.

“At last! at last! These prison bars, they are good! I could kiss them. I can never be grateful enough to my enemies!”

He had taken his prison as a joke from the first, sneering at the judge who had committed him. He knew that every day he stayed in that jail he was becoming more and more the master of the people. If McLeod had tried he could not have played into his hands with more fatal certainty. Five hundred citizens of Independence had wired him their congratulations and offered him any assistance he desired, from unlimited money for defence to a delegation to tear the jail down.

He declined any assistance. He knew the storm would break over their heads soon enough, and they would be delighted to get rid of him. In the meantime he gave himself up to his thoughts about the woman he loved, and wondered what change had suddenly come over her to send him that message. He felt sure the great crisis in their life had come. What would it be? A sorrowful surrender on her part to her father’s iron will and a tearful good-bye forever, or the full surrender of her woman’s soul and body to the dominion of his love?

He was glad the hour had struck that should decide. He trembled at the import of her answer but he was ready to receive it.

A carriage rolled into the jail enclosure and two young ladies alighted. One of them stopped in the sitting room for visitors, and he heard the tramp of a man’s heavy feet on the stairs and after it the tread of a woman like a soft echo.

The key grated in the lock, the door opened. She looked into his eyes for just an instant of searching soul revelation, saw the yearning and the grateful tears, and with a glad cry sprang into his arms.

“You do love me!” she passionately cried.

“Love you? I drew you back across the sea with my love. I knew you would come. I willed it with a power you couldn’t resist.”

“I never got your letters, and I was hungry to see you,” she whispered.

“And I never got yours, and drew you back by the power of a great heart purpose.”

“Forgive me, for being away from you when you were in danger.”

“I was glad you were safe. Don’t let this jail alarm you. I ’ll be out too soon for my good I’m afraid.”

“No other woman has come into your heart to cheer it even with her friendship since I’ve been away, has she?”

“What a silly question. I’ve never looked at any other woman since the day I first saw you!”

“Tell me you love me again!”

“I—love—you, unto the uttermost, in life, in death, forever!” he whispered tenderly.

She sighed and smiled. “The sweetest music the ear of a woman ever heard!” she half laughed, half cried.

“Now, my dear, you are a full-grown woman in the beauty of a perfect womanhood. For five years and more, I have waited and suffered. My life is an open book before you. When are you going to end this suspense? You must decide now whether your father’s will shall rule your life or my love?”

“Must I decide to-day?” she asked tremblingly.

“Yes,” he answered. “It is not fair to torture me longer.”

“Then I give up!” she tearfully exclaimed. “God forgive me if I am doing wrong! I can not resist you longer. I do not desire to,—I will not! I am all yours, forever—soul, body, will, honour, life—all! I can not live without you. I love you. I love you!—Kiss me!—again—ah, your lips are sweeter than honey! Am I bold to say it? I do not care, I am yours. Your arms are the bonds of my slavery and they are sweet!”

Gaston was trembling with the joy that flooded his being with these the first words of perfect faith and submissive love that had come from her lips. And he winced at the memory now of those hours of dissipation when he had doubted her. He tried to confess it and receive her absolution.

“My dear, my joy is too great. It is pain, as well as joy. In the dark days of our first year of separation I thought once you had forgotten me. I went away into two weeks of debauchery. Your perfect love crushes me with its beauty and purity. I must confess this wrong to you. I must not deceive you in the smallest thing in this hour.”

She placed her hand over his lips, “I will not hear it. I ought to have been braver and fought for my rights and yours. I will not hear one word of humiliation from you. I love you. You are my king. I love you, good or bad. I would love you if you were a murderer on the gallows. I can not help it. I do not wish to help it. I will follow you to the bottomless pit or to the throne of God and say it without fear to devil or angel. Kiss me again!—There, do not cry—let me see your beautiful brown eyes. I ’ll kiss the tears away. Tears are for my eyes not yours!”

“Then you will fix the day, dear?” he softly urged.

“How soon would you like it?”

“The sooner the better.”

“Then I fix to-day,” she said impulsively.

“What, here, in this jail?”

“Yes, where you are is heaven to me. I haven’t noticed the jail,” she said soberly.

He looked at her a moment, strained her to his heart and brushed the tears of joy from his eyes.

“My beautiful queen! This hour is worth every pain and every throb of anguish I have suffered. Its memory will encompass life with a great light.”

“I ’ll go with Stella, see Dr. Durham who is here looking after your case, have him get the license, and we will be back in half an hour!”

The Preacher greeted her with delight. “Ah! Miss Sallie, if I had known a little thing like this would have brought you back, I would have hired a jail for him long ago, and put him in it.”

“Doctor, I want you to get the license and marry us now, will you do it?”

“Will I? Just watch me. I ’ll have the documents and be ready for the ceremon............