? No one has
heard it except that Italian violinist; and, if he praises it, I
sometimes fear it is because he is so horribly dissipated that he
confounds my _bravura_ runs with the clicking of his wine-glasses and
the gurgling of his flask. Do you know much about music?"

"I have heard the best living performers, vocal and instrumental, and
to a finer voice than yours I never listened; but you need study and
practice, for your execution is faulty. You have a splendid
instrument; but you do not yet understand its management. Where do you
live?"

"At 'Grassmere,' a farm two miles behind those hills, and in a house
hidden under elm and apple trees. Madam, it is very late, and I must
bid you good-evening. Before I go, I should like to know, if you will
not deem me unwarrantably impertinent, whether you are a very young
person with white hair, or whether you are a very old woman with a
wonderfully young face?"

For a moment there was no answer; and, supposing that she had offended
her, the orphan bowed and was turning away, when Mrs. Gerome's calm,
mournful tones arrested her:

"I am only twenty-three years old."

She walked away, turning her countenance towards the water, where
moonlight was burnishing the waves; and, when Salome and Stanley had
reached the bend in their path that would shut out the view of the
beach, the former looked back and saw the silver-gray figure standing
alone on the silent shore, communing with the silver sea, as desolate
and as hopeless as Buchanan's "Penelope,"--

"An alabaster woman, whose fixed eyes
Stare seaward, whether it be storm or calm."

CHAPTER IX.

"Doctor Sheldon, do you think she is dangerously ill?"

"I am afraid, Salome, that she will soon become so; for she is
threatened with a violent attack of pneumonia, which would certainly
be very dangerous to a woman of her age. It is a great misfortune that
her brother is absent."

"Dr. Grey reached New York three days ago."

"Indeed! I will telegraph immediately, and hasten his return."

Dr. Sheldon was preparing a blister in the room adjoining the one
occupied by Miss Jane, and the orphan stood by his side, twisting her
fingers nervously over each other, and looking perplexed and anxious.
He returned to his patient, and when he came out some moments later,
and took up his hat, his countenance was by no means reassuring.

"Although I know that you are very much attached to Miss Jane, and
would faithfully ende