athleen will stay here, and keep the house for me," he said. "She will
be my daughter. What would I be doing all alone in this big house?"

The few days that had elapsed since Mrs. Quirk's death had changed him
into a decrepit old man. He sat through the greater part of the day in
an easy-chair on the verandah, taking no interest in anything; just
gazing vacantly in front of him for hours at a time. Mental and bodily
strength seemed to have deserted him. From vigour he had passed suddenly
into senility.

"Are you willing to stay with him?" Dr. Marsh asked Kathleen. "It means
acting as a nurse to an impatient old man."

"I promised Mrs. Quirk that I would remain at "Layton" while he needed
me," she answered.

"The burden may be a heavy one," said Father Healy.

"I can bear it," she answered cheerfully.

Denis Quirk waited until the other had gone. Then he went to Kathleen to
find her working among the flowers, filling the vases and placing them
in the positions where Mrs. Quirk had liked to see them. He sat watching
her silently, as he had been accustomed to do in the days of their first
acquaintance. Presently she turned towards him.

"You remind me of the old Denis Quirk to-day--the one whom I resented,"
she said.

"I was summing you up in those days," he answered; "just wondering
whether you were genuine."

"That was what I objected to," she answered. "I have never been
subjected to examination--I have not so much as examined myself too
critically--and the feeling is creepy."

"You have been tried and acquitted," he laughed. "You leave the court
without a stain upon your character. Indeed, you have been promoted to
stand upon a pedestal, and receive the admiration of your fellows."

"No, no! Not that, if you please," she cried. "Allow me to remain just a
woman. It is my best plea for leniency. I detest the idea of a pedestal.
Supposing I were found to have a flaw--I have a good many, I assure
you--everyone would see it. Let me hide myself in the crowd."

"Only one person is permitted to admire you on the pedestal; the one who
has placed you there. In his eyes there is no flaw. But," he added,
hastily, "I may, at least, thank you for your kindness to my parents.
You are a good woman, and you need no higher praise. Take care of the
old man, and--good-bye."

He took her hand and crushed it in his own. Then he turned abruptly on
his heel and left her. That night she fancied she could hear him pacing
the av