already requested Doctor
Williams to write for him, so that I expect he will be here in a very
few days. When he comes Traverse, you will tell him that it is my desire
that my daughter shall continue to reside in her present home, retaining
Mrs. Rocke as her matronly companion. I have also requested Doctor
Williams to tell him the same thing, so that in the mouths of two
witnesses my words may be established."

Now, Traverse had never in his life before heard the name of Colonel Le
Noir; and, therefore, was in no position to warn the dying father who
placed so much confidence in the high reputation of his brother-in-law
that his trust was miserably misplaced; that he was leaving his fair
daughter and her large fortune to the tender mercies of an unscrupulous
villain and a consummate hypocrite. So he merely promised to deliver the
message with which he was charged by the dying father for his daughter's
guardian, and added that he had no doubt but Clara's uncle would
consider that message a sacred command and obey it to the letter.

As the sun was now well up, the doctor consented that Mrs. Rocke and his
daughter should be admitted.

Marah brought with her some wine-whey that her patient drank, and from
which he received temporary strength.

Clara was pale but calm; one could see at a glance that the poor girl
was prepared for the worst, and had nerved her gentle heart to bear it
with patience.

"Come hither, my little Clara," said the doctor, as soon as he had been
revived by the whey.

Clara came and kissed his brow and sat beside him with her hands clasped
in his.

"My little girl, what did our Saviour die for? First to redeem us, and
also to teach us by His burial and resurrection that death is but a
falling asleep in this world and an awakening in the next. Clara, after
this, when you think of your father, do not think of him as lying in the
grave, for he will not be there in his vacated body, no more than he
will be in the trunk with his cast-off entries. As the coat is the
body's covering, so the body is the soul's garment, and it is the soul
that is the innermost and real man; it is my soul that is me; and that
will not be in the earth, but in heaven; therefore, do not think of me
gloomily as lying in the grave, but cheerfully as living in heaven--as
living there with God and Christ and His saints, and with your mother,
Clara, the dear wife of my youth, who has been waiting for me these many
years. Think