told them that of course he intended to accompany
them, the thought of having him to manage
and interpret for them smoothed away much of
the difficulty; and he argued so long and so
earnestly, that at last he argued successfully,
and carried his point. They got to Naples by
the end of July, and upon inquiry found that
Dr. Wrangel had left that town for Sorrento,
where he had established himself for the summer;
thither they followed him without loss of
time.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Brande had gone on
constantly writing to her cousin, and receiving
answers that were but little satisfactory to her;
she had an undefined apprehension that all was
not going well with him, and at last determined
upon coming to town for a month to look after
him. As soon as she had settled this little plan
with her husband, she wrote up to Edward to
take a house for her, and was much surprised,
after some days, at getting no answer; but she
thought he had perhaps not yet found anything
to suit, and that she should hear in a day or
two, so she waited patiently. At the end of a
week, however, she wrote again, and, still receiving
no reply, sent off a line to a friend of
his to inquire of his whereabouts. The friend
informed her that Edward Saville was not in
London. Judge of her astonishment when the
post brought her the following letter from Italy:

                         Hôtel de la Sirène, Sorrento.
Dearest Harty,—The date of this will surprise
you. Don't be angry with me, dear. I was too
well aware of your sisterly anxiety for me to
confide to you a project which I felt sure could
meet with but little sympathy or encouragement
from you; and so, to avoid the pain which
would have been caused to us both, by your
unavailing efforts to prevent me from putting what
you will consider my Quixotic plan into execution,
I have been silent.

Harty, my sister, my dear friend, pity me!
The woman to whom my life has been devoted
for the last six months is insane, but not hopelessly
so, I will trust. There is a famous man
here at Sorrento, whom I have brought her to
consult; we are to see him to-morrow, and I
will let you know the result. Meanwhile, don't
let your kind heart be troubled about me; remember
how few interests there were in my disjointed
homeless existence; even if this venture
fails, I am sure you will agree with me, that
my idleness and my money could not be better
employed than in the service of a fellow-creature
so grievously afflicted.
                              Yours ever affectionately,
                                                                   E.S.

Upon arriving at Sorrento, Edward Saville's
first care had been to find out where Dr. Wrangel
was domiciled. By a piece of great good luck,
there was an apartment to let in the same house;
he took it at once, and immediately established
Wanda with the Hausmanns in it, remaining
himself at the  Hôtel de la Sirène, which was
close by. Dr. Wrangel had an interview with
Wanda the day after her arrival, but would give
no opinion about her until he had seen more of
her. She was very quiet, and seemed perfectly
happy; her great delight was to ait the whole
day long by the sea-side, and in the evening
they often went out in a boat; Wanda liked
nothing so much. The monotony seemed to
calm and soothe her, and the place altogether
agreed well with her. Their boatman on these
excursions was a fisherman of the name of
Benedetto; he had a wife and a child, for whom
Wanda had conceived a violent affection. One
evening, soon after their arrival, on their return
from one of these boating expeditions, they
found Stella sitting on the shore playing with
her child. When they landed, she got up to speak
to Benedetto with the boy in her arms. He was
a magnificent fellow, nearly two years old, and
the whole party surrounded him, and began
noticing and admiring him, to the great delight
of the young mother. Madame Hausmann and
Elizabeth both offered to take him, but he would
go to neither, and suddenly stretched out his
arms to Wanda, who was still standing looking
into the water, which seemed to have an eternal
fascination for her, and not heeding him. Stella
took him up to her, and put him into her arms;
the weather was very warm, and she wore a low
dress with a light shawl just thrown over her
shoulders; in taking the child her shawl fell off,
and the little fellow, whose mother had not yet
weaned him, instantly pressed his tiny fat hands
upon the fair uncovered breast, and, after patting
it two or three times, put his little face down
and kissed it. Some strange echo out of the
past was suddenly awakened by the touch of
those small fingers, and the poor thing fainted
dead away. From that hour she was quite
devoted to the little Aniello; she seemed unable
to live out of his sight, and they passed whole
days together playing on the shore, the kind-hearted
Stella never grudging her darling to the
poor bereaved creature who had attached herself
to him so passionately.

In about a fortnight after the receipt of the
letter we have already mentioned, and which had
thrown Mrs. Brande into a state of considerable
anxiety, she received another epistle from her
cousin, which caused her the deepest distress;
it was as follows:

Dearest Harty, Dr. Wrangel has now seen
my poor Wanda continually during a whole
fortnight, and from his knowledge of her antecedents,
and after the most patient and constant
scrutiny, his opinion is that she might possibly
recover if she were to marry and have children.
It is the only chance, but it is one. Don't be
frightened, dear. I am not married yet, and it
is still quite uncertain if I ever shall be; at all
events, I give you my word that I will do nothing
precipitately, or without letting you know
beforehand.         Yours ever affectionately,
                                                                 E. S.

Harty Brande carried this letter in floods of
tears straight to her husband. "William, he is
going to marry that mad woman; you must take