Still holding the feverish hand which clung to his, Grey hesitated a
moment, and then said:

"I am not Neil; he will be here soon. I am Grey Jerrold; don't you
remember I spent a Christmas with you once?"

Again she regarded him fixedly a moment, and then she said:

"Yes, I remember Grey Jerrold, the American: he was to have had my room,
but said he preferred the cold and the rats! Ugh!" and she shivered a
little, as she continued, "Where is he, Neil? He was with me when father
died, and was so very kind. Thank him for me, when you see him, and now
I am so tired. I cannot talk any more, but stay by me, Neil, and hold
my hand I am better with you here."

She persisted in thinking him Neil, and Grey humored the fancy. He had
never heard of her engagement, for Jack had not betrayed her confidence;
but he knew that she and Neil were greatly attached to each other, and
were, as he thought, more like brother and sister than cousins, and,
believing as he did with the world in general, that Neil was pledged to
Blanche Trevellian, he had no suspicion of the real state of affairs,
though he wondered that all Bessie's thoughts should be concentrated
upon her absent cousin. How sick she was, and how high the fever ran,
and how strangely she talked, as he sat there watching her with a
terrible fear in his heart, and a constant prayer for the dear life
which seemed balancing so evenly in the scale for the next two or three
days, during which he was with her all the time he could spare from his
Aunt Lucy, who never suspected why he seemed so abstracted and sad, or
that the fever was in the hotel where he was staying. He knew how much
afraid she was of it, and how anxious she would be for him if she knew
where he spent the hours not given to her. So he did not tell her of
poor little Bessie, who grew weaker and weaker every day, until at last
the old doctor shook his head, and between the pinches of snuff which he
blew about vigorously, said there was one chance in a hundred for her,
and if she had any friends who wished to see her, they should be sent
for at once. But there was no one save Neil, whom Daisy expected every
day, and Grey filled his place altogether with Bessie. She always called
him Neil, and once, with a most grieved expression on her face, she said
to him:

"Why don't you kiss me, Neil? You have not since you came."

Daisy and Flossie had gone to dinner, and the nurse was resting a few
moments in the adjoining r