When you are near me I
can fancy that my lost treasure has not been really lost to me--that she
has merely been asleep, like the princess in the story-book, and that
while time has moved on for me, she has come back out of her enchanted
slumber as fresh and beautiful as when I saw her last. Ah, poverina! you
cannot imagine what a host of recollections the sight of your sweet face
conjures up whenever I choose to let my day-dreams have way for a little
while."
"I remember your telling me that my parents were unknown to you,"
answered Janet. "Perhaps the lady to whom I bear so strong a resemblance
was my mother."
"No, not your mother, Janet. The lady to whom I refer died unmarried.
She and I had been engaged to each other for three years; but death came
and claimed her a fortnight before the day fixed for our wedding; and
here I am, a lonely old bachelor still."
"Not quite lonely, dear Major Strickland," murmured Janet, as she lifted
his hand and pressed it to her lips.
"True, child, not quite lonely. I have George, whom I love as though he
were a son of my own. And there is Aunt Felicity, as the children used
to call her, who is certainly very fond of me, as I also am of her.
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