to be made
ridiculous; but we were soon walking together very amicably, and he
was telling me where he had been, and that he was now on his way to
Trevellian Castle.

"'I have not seen you, Flossie,' he said--and I wish you could have
heard how sadly and low he spoke--'I have not seen you since Bessie
died in Rome. You were with her, I believe?'

"'Bessie died in Rome!' I exclaimed. 'What do you mean? Bessie did
not die in Rome. She is not dead at all. She has gone to America in
the same ship with Grey Jerrold.'

"He stopped more suddenly than he did when I hooked him with the
umbrella, and turning toward me, asked me if I was telling him the
truth. Then we walked on as far as the Champs d'Elysees, where we
sat down, and I told him everything which had happened at Rome, and
after we left there, as far as I knew. But I doubt if he heard half
I was saying. The only point he did seem to understand was that you
were not dead, and that you had gone to America in the same ship
with Mr. Jerrold. It was Neil who had told me that, and to him I
referred Jack for any further information concerning you. But I do
not think he stopped to get it, for he went straight through London
to Trevellian Castle, where his presence was needed. And then, after
a time he invited grandma and me to visit him there, because he was
lonely without any ladies in the house. And we went, and I was
perfectly happy; for, you know, it was once my home, and it is going
to be--But wait till I tell you how Jack is changed, and how he used
to go away by himself, and stay for hours alone, and come back with
such a tired look on his face, and ask me to tell him again of Mr.
Jerrold's kindness to you in Rome. Grandma said he was in love with
you, and I think so, too. But wait till I tell you how he came home
from London after seeing you there as Mrs. Jerrold, and how he raved
about your beauty, and grace, and elegance, and the lovely dress you
wore the night he called, blue he said he believed it was, and he
wanted me to have one like it, as if what became your lilies and
roses would suit my black face and turned-up Irish nose. But men
know nothing of color, or anything else, at least Jack does not, as
you will see when I tell you, if I ever come to that.

"Well, it was like this: You were married to Mr. Jerrold, and n