e
next thing I heard about her was that she was dead."

"Did she commit suicide?" asked Mary.

"It is said not; it is suggested that after Morris's interview with her
in the Dead Church--for I gather there was an interview though nobody
knows about it, and that's where they met--she fell asleep, which
sounds an odd thing to do in the midst of such a gale as was raging on
Christmas Eve, and so was overwhelmed. But who can say? Impressionable
and unhappy women have done such deeds before now, especially if they
imagine themselves to have become the object of gossip. Of course, also,
the mere possibility of such a thing having happened on his account
would be, and indeed has been, enough to drive a man like Morris crazy
with grief and remorse."

"What had he to be remorseful for?" asked Mary. "If a young woman
chanced to fall in love with him, why should he be blamed, or blame
himself for that? After all, people's affections are in their own
keeping."

"I imagine--very little, if anything. At least, I know this, that when
I spoke to him about the matter after my talk with her, I gathered from
what he said that there was absolutely nothing between them. To be quite
frank, however, as I have tried to be with you, my dear, throughout
this conversation, I also gathered that this young lady had produced a
certain effect upon his mind, or at least that the knowledge that she
had avowed herself to be attached to him--which I am afraid I let out,
for I was in a great rage--produced some such effect. Well, afterwards
I believe, although I have asked no questions and am not sure of it, he
went and said good-bye to her in this church, at her request. Then this
dreadful tragedy happened, and there is an end of her and her story."

"Have you any object in telling it to me, uncle?"

"Yes, my dear, I have. I wished you to know the real facts before they
reached you in whatever distorted version Morris's fancy or imagination,
or exaggerated candour, may induce him to present them to you. Also,
my dear, even if you find, or think you find that you have cause of
complaint against him, I hope that you will see your way to being
lenient and shutting your eyes a little."

"Severity was never my strong point," interrupted Mary.

"For this reason," went on the Colonel; "the young woman concerned was a
very remarkable person; if you could have heard her sing, for instance,
you would have said so yourself. It is a humiliating confession,