uld be no driftwood now; nor would they ever be
haunted by the sound of a bell in the dark, for with the few brave
souls who sail across the seas of life they had both of them stood by
the sinking ship until it put into port.

Mrs. Shawles came in again presently and told him that she had laid his
breakfast in the little room facing the gardens. Then she waited, and
as Bulstrode looked up at her he forced himself to smile faintly and
wished her a Merry Christmas.

She thanked him, gave him many, and said it was a happy morning for all
of the Westboro's, and that the castle and the house would see new
times and better things, and when he had stirred himself to the point
of putting what he had for her into her hand, he was not sure whether
he wanted her to go, or not, this time and leave him alone.

She still hesitated. It was a custom with them, she told him, with the
Westboro's, to have hall prayers on holidays. When the Duke himself
was there, he always read them; the servants and the children of the
place had already come in. In the absence of the family _would_ Mr.
Bulstrode...?

"Oh, no, on no account, on no account," he hurried. "Wasn't there some
one else?"

"Well, to be sure, there was Portman."

The guest was sure that Portman would do it quite in the proper way,
and as for himself, he would have his breakfast in a few moments, he
thanked her.

And Mrs. Shawles, who had expected a more favorable answer, left open
on the table the little Book which she had brought in with her.

Bulstrode took it up after she was gone.

In a few seconds he heard from the distance the sound of the children
singing. Their voices ceased, to be followed by the subdued murmur of
reading. As Bulstrode opened the Book he held, the leaves fell apart
at the marriage rite. He hurriedly passed this over, and his eyes were
arrested by the opening lines of a more solemn service. He paused to
read the beautiful, pitiful words, and then, still with the open Book
in his hands, he drew the telegram out of its cover....

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sentimental Adventures of Jimmy
Bulstrode, by Marie Van Vorst

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JIMMY BULSTRODE ***

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