t can not be."

"I assure you that it is quite true. Every one is speaking of how
devoted he is to you. If I were you, I'd-- Ah! here he comes now. I will
leave you alone with him to thank him, my dear."

So saying, the nurse left the room.

"Little Jessie!" Hubert whispered, almost beside himself with joy.

"Mr. Varrick!" she breathed in a low voice of awe.

Then he poured a tale of passionate love into her ears, but before
Jessie could answer he had caught the little hands again in his warm
clasp, covered them with kisses, and was gone.

Jessie Bain tried to collect her scattered senses. Her head seemed in a
whirl. All that had happened within the last few minutes appeared but
the coinage of her own brain.

When the nurse came in again she found the girl feverish with
excitement.

"Come, come, my dear; this will never do," said the nurse. "You will be
sure to have a relapse if you are not very careful. Think how badly that
would make the young man feel."

Jessie smiled. Suddenly a low cry broke from her lips, and she started
up pale with emotion. She had suddenly recalled poor Margaret and she
told the nurse the whole story.

"Give me her address, and I will telegraph there for you," said the
nurse. "To be frank with you, the gentleman left a well-filled purse,
which he bid us place at your disposal. You are to want for no luxury
that money can purchase for you."

Jessie Bain was overcome by the wonderful kindness of Hubert Varrick.
Her first thought was that she could never accept another penny, for she
was too much indebted to him already. Then came the thought of
Margaret--poor Margaret! She begged the nurse to send a telegram in all
haste, informing the boarding-house keeper that the money for Margaret
Moore's board would be forthcoming.

This request was carried out at once, and within an hour the answer came
back that Jessie Bain's telegram had come too late. No money having come
in time for the girl's board, she had been sent to one of the public
asylums, and while _en route_ there, by some means she had made her
escape, and her whereabouts was then unknown.

Jessie's grief was great upon hearing this. The nurse believed that the
bitter sobs which shook Jessie's slender frame would give her a relapse
that would keep her there for many a day.

"There is but one thing to do," she said, trying to console Jessie, "and
that is to get back your health and strength as soon as you can, and
make a sear