hs, but we
shall know better after Barrett has been down. I wish you had not asked
me. It's the hardest work I've ever had to do, to tell you this; but
for the children's sake--If there is anything to be done, you ought not
to waste time!"

"I understand!" said the Major quietly, then suddenly a light flashed
across his face, and his eyes sparkled as with joy. "I shall die at
Knock!" he cried. "I shall not have to turn out after all! It was that
that drove me mad, O'Brien--the thought of leaving the old place where I
was born, and all my people before me! I had bad news from the bank,
and it seemed as if the end had come at last, and all the time I was
riding I was feeling desperate--driven into a corner. The poor beast
tried to save me, she knew the jump was too much for her, but I was too
reckless to care. I felt that I could face death sooner than leave the
old place, and now it has come to that after all. I shall die at Knock!
Thank God for that! Go downstairs, O'Brien, and tell the girls that I
know the truth, and am quite happy. You needn't mind leaving me. I
shall sleep now!"

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

ESMERALDA'S SOLACE.

The Dublin specialist came down in due course, and entirely agreed with
Dr O'Brien's diagnosis. There was no chance of the Major's recovery,
and though there was no immediate danger, it was not likely that life
would be prolonged for more than two or three months at most. He would
not suffer physically nor mentally, for the brain power would become
more and more dulled, so that he would hardly realise his condition.

The thought of watching him die by inches, as it were, was an even
harder trial to Esmeralda's impetuous nature than the shock of a sudden
death, but Bridgie was thankful for every day as it came, for every
opportunity of ministering to his needs. And he was so sweet, so
gentle; all his former indifference and selfishness had fallen from him
like a cloak, and his one thought was for his children, his one anxiety
on their behalf. When Bridgie saw how devoted he was to his piccaninny,
and how she could always succeed in raising a smile, she proposed that
the child should not return to school for the next term at least; but
the Major would not listen to the suggestion.

"No, no! I promised Molly that she should have her chance, and I won't
have her distressed. If she stayed on she would find out--and she would
cry, and I never could endure to see her cry. It