ied in a hospital in London of a malignant fever. No one saw him.
He was buried within twenty-four hours, I presume according to the law
in such cases. Of course, I have no particulars, only the barest
outline of facts. Undoubtedly I shall receive a letter by the next
steamer, giving details. It is all desperately sad--heart-breakingly
sad. Poor fellow! So young and to die alone among strangers."

Miss Blake stretched out her hands supplicatingly.

"Don't," she pleaded.

"Shall I tell Nan?" Mr. Turner asked after a moment. "Perhaps it would
be better if I should. You have undergone enough."

"No, no!" she cried. "No one must tell her but myself. But first I
must talk to you about--about--you know when I came here I had reasons
for wishing her not to know who I was. Now I will tell her. There is
no more need to withhold anything. Delia always knew--from the
first--but she never told Nan and she never would have told. But that
is all over now. There is no need for secrecy any more. And I will
stay with her. I will keep her with me always. She has no one else
now, and I--I--I am free to do as I please. If--if he has left her
unprovided for, why, that shall make no difference to her. I have
plenty and she shall share it with me. She shall never feel the care
or want of anything that I can supply. Ah, Mr. Turner, I am glad I
came. It has been hard, but I am glad I came."

She broke down completely. Her frail figure shook with shuddering sobs.

But she was not a woman to give way long, and in a moment she regained
her self-control.

"I must have time to think," she said. "Everything seems so changed
and strange. I scarcely know where I stand. The suddenness of it has
been so horrible. I suppose he must have been ill for a long time--too
ill to write. And by and by when they took him to the hospital he must
have been unconscious, and so they could not communicate with his
friends. That would account for it all, his not writing nor receiving
the dispatches--and his friends not knowing where he was."

Mr. Turner nodded. Then he rose.

"I will leave you now," he said. "You are completely worn out. If you
will take my advice you will defer telling Nan until tomorrow. I fear
the strain will prove too great for you."

She smiled faintly.

"Oh, no," she replied. "I am stronger than you think. But the child
shall not be told tonight. I will leave her in peace for one night
longer. I w