alone in the stateroom, the two girls having been
an instant before summoned by their brother to meet some friends who
had come on board to see them off. She stood staring at the touching
little bunch of faded bloom, knowing just how tender had been the
thought of her which had prompted the effort. It had not occurred to Mr.
Warne that there was any other way of sending flowers to ships than by
mailing them from one's own garden. As for the words, she knew well
enough that he had not dreamed of disturbing her content by quoting
them, yet--she could but feel that the reason why they came to his mind
when he was searching there for a bit of tender sentiment to send with
his parting gift was the thought of his own possible end being not far
away. And if he, too, were thinking of that----

With a fast-beating heart Georgiana stood staring out of the open
porthole at the scene of activity outside. Far below her she could see
the gangway over which she had come on board. In less than an hour--the
party had arrived early--that gangway would be withdrawn, the water
would slowly widen between pier and ship, and there would be no turning
back. Could she go--could she bear to go--and take the chance? Were her
fears only the natural forebodings of the unaccustomed traveler, or was
there a real reason why she should never have allowed herself to be
persuaded to leave one whose hold on life was so frail, the only being
in the world to whom she was closely bound? She closed her eyes and
tried to think....

Mrs. Thomas Crofton, turning from a group of friends at the touch of her
niece's hand upon hers, would have drawn the girl into the circle and
presented her with genuine pride in her, but the low voice in her ear
deterred her:

"Aunt Olivia, please forgive me, but I must ask you to come away with me
just for five minutes. Please----"

In a temporarily forsaken angle of the deck Georgiana laid her case
before her aunt, speaking with rapid, shaken words, but none the less
determinedly. Mrs. Crofton listened with an astonished face and with
lips which protested even before they had the chance to speak.

"I know just how dreadful it will seem to you all--that I shouldn't have
known my duty long ago. But I see it now--oh, so plainly! And it's not
only my duty, it's my love that takes me back. I can't stop to tell you
how I feel about leaving you all when you've been so kind, so wonderful
to me. I can tell you that another time. But