p,
and I sailed without having seen or spoken to a soul I knew in London.
Then on board I met a friend, who told me of the report of my death,
and I knew that you must have heard it. The people at the bank would
communicate with Turner, I felt sure. Ah, what days those were! It
seemed as though we should never reach land. But we got in to-day, and
you can imagine that I have not lost one moment in coming to you,
sweetheart. But how my girl has changed. Grown so tall and womanly.
I'm afraid I've lost my little Wildfire. But the girl I've found in
her stead is a hundred times dearer."

Then Nan clung to him again and they were very happy, feeling how good
God was, and how very blessed it felt to be together.

For a while they both stopped talking and sat quite still, holding
hands, while each heart offered up a prayer of gratitude.

They did not hear an upper door open, nor did they notice a light
footstep in the hall above. But at the sound of a gentle voice calling
"Nan!" they both started up, and the girl's grasp of her father's hand
tightened, for she felt him suddenly start and tremble. She tried to
answer but could not for the joy she felt and the quick fear of this
other loss she would have to suffer now.

"Nan!"

Still the girl could not reply, though she tried, and her father's face
had grown rigid and white, as though it were carved in marble.

Then down the stairs and through the hall came Aunt Isabel, stopping at
the threshold of the dining-room door for a moment to accustom her eyes
to the dimness within.

There she stood--the bright light from the hall lamp falling full upon
her head and the ruddy glow of the fire illuminating her face.

Nan caught up her father's hand, for she felt him suddenly shrink and
falter.

The little figure in the doorway neither stirred or moved.

For an instant there was perfect silence in the room, and then Nan saw
her father stride forward with a look of the most wonderful happiness
upon his face, and heard him utter one word in a tone that set her
heart to beating.

"Bell!"

And somehow then she knew it all. In one brief flash she read the
whole story, and she saw that it was to be completed at last, and that
the loss she had feared she would not know at all, but something
infinitely happier and more sweet.

THE END

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Governess, by Julie M. Lippmann

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