the next evening. He had received cards to this party, and now, with the
fierce desire to end his torture reawakened, he prepared to accept the
invitation. As he entered the brilliant rooms his eye fell upon the form
and face of Lina Dent, attired in an exquisite costume, and looking far
more radiant than in his wildest dreams he had ever pictured her.

Feasting upon her loveliness, with eyes hungry in their wistfulness, he
was about to approach her when she suddenly looked toward him and their
eyes met. He caught the quick flash of feeling; he knew that he was
still beloved! But even as he drank in the delicious confirmation of his
hopes, she passed him without recognition, and he knew that she would
not break her vow--that she would not meet him till he had fulfilled her
conditions. Too miserable to seek Miss Howard in the throng, the young
physician pleaded an urgent call to a patient, and left his host almost
before he had fairly entered upon the festivities.

One evening, soon after the last fearful disappointment, Dr. Gardner
received a note asking him to come to a certain number on Fifth Avenue,
and there he should meet Evelyn Howard. She inferred that he had had
ample time to learn if he really desired to form her acquaintance, and
she was ready now to see him.

Tearing the paper to atoms in sudden irritation and setting his teeth,
the young physician was soon at the appointed place, an elegant
brown-stone mansion, quite familiar to his eyes in his drives about
the city.

He was not left long in suspense. There was a sound of rapid steps
descending the stairs, with a frou-frou of silken skirts, and in a
moment Lina Dent stood before him, her face aglow with a proud light