hiefs. I am going to take my new books you
sent me down to my old seat on the stone wall and read those pretty
stories there. I don't know if I will be back for lunch or not," she
called back; "if I don't, will you come for me, Brother Rex?"

"Yes, dear," he made answer, "of course I will."

The lunch hour came and went, still Birdie did not put in an
appearance. At last Rex was beginning to feel uneasy about her.

"You need not be the least alarmed," said Mrs. Lyon, laughingly, "the
child is quite spoiled; she is like a romping gypsy, more content to
live out of doors in a tent than to remain indoors. She is probably
waiting down on the stone wall for you to come for her and carry her
home as you used to do. You had better go down and see, Rex; it is
growing quite dark."

And Rex, all unconscious of the strange, invisible thread which fate
was weaving so closely about him, quickly made his way through the
fast-gathering darkness down the old familiar path which led through
the odorous orange groves to the old stone wall, guided by the shrill
treble of Birdie's childish voice, which he heard in the distance,
mingled with the plaintive murmur of the sad sea-waves--those waves
that seemed ever murmuring in their song the name of Daisy. Even the
subtle breeze seemed to whisper of her presence.

CHAPTER XX.

"I am very grateful to you for the service you have rendered my little
sister," said Rex, extending his hand to the little veiled figure
standing in the shade of the orange-trees. "Allow me to thank you for
it."

Poor Daisy! she dared not speak lest the tones of her voice should
betray her identity.

"I must for evermore be as one dead to him," she whispered to her
wildly beating heart.

Rex wondered why the little, fluttering, cold fingers dropped so
quickly from his clasp; he thought he heard a stifled sigh; the
slight, delicate form looked strangely familiar, yet he could see it
was neither Eve, Gerty, nor Bess. She bowed her head with a few
low-murmured words he scarcely caught, and the next instant the little
figure was lost to sight in the darkness beyond.

"Who was that, Birdie?" he asked, scarcely knowing what prompted the
question.

Alas for the memory of childhood! poor little Birdie had quite
forgotten.

"It is so stupid of me to forget, but when I see her again I shall ask
her and try and remember it then."

"It is of no consequence," said Rex, raising the little figure in his
arms