but it was not over-fatigue, nor yet his scolding, that had
brought the tears to my eyes. To-day was the second anniversary of
Charlie's death, and through that long, wakeful night, as I sat beside
poor Mary's bed, I was recalling the bitter hours when my darling went
down deeper into the place of shadows,--when he fought away his young
life, while Lesbia and I wept and prayed beside him. No wonder a word
unnerved me; but I could not tell Mr. Hamilton this.

When we met the next day he asked me, rather curtly, if the headache had
gone; but when I thanked him, somewhat shyly, for the medicine he had
sent, he got rather red, and interrupted me with unusual abruptness.

'You have nothing for which to thank me,' he said, in quite a repellent
tone. 'I am glad you obeyed orders and stopped at home; I was afraid you
might be contumacious, as usual,'--which was rather ungracious of him,
after the promise he had extracted from me.

I questioned Robin about Miss Hamilton's visit; she had remained with the
boy some hours, reading to him and amusing him, and, in Robin's favourite
language, 'getting on first-rate; only, just as I was drinking my mugful
of tea, parson comes, and Miss Hamilton she says she will be late, and
gets up in a hurry, and--'

'Wait a minute, Robin: do you mean Mr. Cunliffe or Mr. Tudor?'

'Oh, the vicar, to be sure; and he seemed finely surprised to see Miss
Hamilton there. "So you've come to see your old scholar," he says,
smiling, and Miss Hamilton says, "Yes; but she must go now," and she
drops her glove, and parson looks for it, but it was too dark, and for
all his groping it could not be found. "I must just go without it," says
Miss Hamilton; "but I have got my muff, and it does not matter," and she
says good-bye, and goes away. Parson found it, though,' went on Robin
garrulously. 'When Sally lighted the candle he spies it at once, and puts
it in his pocket. "Miss Hamilton will be fine and glad when you tell her
it is found," I says to parson; but he just looks at me in an odd sort of
way, and says, "Yes, Robin, certainly."--'And you won't forget to give it
to her, to-morrow, sir?' but he did not seem to hear me. "Good-night,
my man," he said. "So Miss Hamilton did not think you were too old to be
kissed." And he kissed me just in the same place as she did. What did you
say, miss?'

'I did not say anything, Robin.'

'Didn't you, miss? I thought I heard you say "poor man," or something
like that.