This page has been validated.
334
Elizabeth's Pretenders

wrought such misery in her family no longer bears the name of Shaw. She married Captain Drayson two years ago.

Colonel Wybrowe has managed to escape going through the Bankruptcy Court,—is still one of the best-dressed men about town, still belongs to several clubs, is still invited to big "shoots" and deer-forests, and is still on the outlook for the woman with a large fortune, who will devote it during her life, and consecrate it when she dies, to his exclusive service.

So the years roll by. And unjust Time does not bring its revenges, or its compensations, to all. We see the ungodly, it may be, still flourishing as a green bay-tree; and all evil-doers are not brought to the pillory of the world's judgment. But for some who have suffered, like the two with whose lives I am chiefly concerned, the balance is re-adjusted; the days that are bearing them fast to middle-age are charged with a happiness which death only can touch, since it is built on "the love that casteth out fear."


THE END.