t.

"Oh, oh, what pain!" she said very quickly, and Hodges cried, "My God,
she's gone!" and I caught her as she fell and we went down together,
for my knees were shaking.

When I opened my eyes there was only Margaret there, wetting my
forehead, for William had gone for a doctor. Not that it was of any
use, for she never breathed. But the smile on her face was lovely.

We got her on her bed and the sight of her there brought the tears to
me and I cried out, "Oh, dear, oh, dear! she was all I had in the
world, and now----"

"Now you've got me, my girl, and isn't that worth anything to you,
Sarah?"

That was William Hodges, and he put his arm over my shoulder, right
before Margaret, and looked so kind at me, so kind--I saw in a moment
that no one else was anything to him and that he had always cared for
me. And that, coming so sudden, when I had given up all hope of it,
was too much for me, weak as I was, and I fainted off again and woke up
raving hot with fever and half out of my mind, but not quite, for I
kept begging them to put off the funeral till I should be able to be up.

But this, of course, was not done, and by the time I was out of
hospital the turf was all in place on her dear grave.

William had managed everything and had picked out all the little
keepsakes I should have chosen--the heirs were most kind, though Jews.
Indeed, I've felt different to that sort of people ever since, for they
not caring for the house on account of its being lonely, to their way
of thinking, made it into a children's home for those of their belief
as were poor and orphaned, and whatever may have been, the old place
will never lack for children now.

I never stepped foot in the grounds again, for William Hodges, though
the gentlest and fairest of men, never thwarted me but once, and it was
in just that direction. Moreover, he forbade me to speak of what only
he and I knew for a certainty, and he was one of that sort that when a
command is laid, it's best kept.

We've two fine children--girl and boy--and he never murmured at the
names I chose for them. Indeed, considering what my mistress's will
left me and what his master had done for him, he was as pleased as I.

"They're named after our two best friends, Sarah," he said, looking
hard at me, once.

And I nodded my head, but if she saw me, in heaven, she knew who were
in my heart when I named them!

THE CRYSTAL

In reviewing the matter dispassionately, it