I send her my love; tell her that
I am quite well; anything to solace her and make these dark days less
dreary. If she wants a friend with her, let a messenger be sent for
whomever she desires. I place no restrictions upon anything you choose
to do for her comfort or happiness, but let me be spared the sight of
any other face than yours until this is all over. After the funeral--it
nay sound ungracious, but I am far from feeling so--I shall wish to be
left alone for awhile. If she can be made to understand this--"

"I think her instincts, sir, have already led her to divine your wishes.
If I am not mistaken, she is even now making preparations to return to
her relatives."

Mr. Sylvester gave a start. "What, so soon!" he murmured, and the
sadness of his tone smote Bertram to the heart. But in another moment he
recovered himself and shortly exclaimed, "Well! well! that is as it
should be. You will watch over her Bertram, and see that she is kindly
cared for. It would be a grief to me to have her go away with any more
than the necessary regret at losing one who was always kind to _her_."

"I will look after her as after a sister," returned Bertram. "She shall
miss no attention which I can supply."

With a look Mr. Sylvester expressed his thanks. Then while Bertram again
attempted to speak, he gave him a cordial pressure of the hand, and
withdrew once more to his favorite spot.

And the rain beat, beat, and it sounded more and more like the droppings
of earth upon a nailed down coffin-lid.

* * * * *

The funeral was a large one. The largest some said that had ever been
seen in that quarter of the city. If Mrs. Sylvester's position had not
been what it was, the sudden and awful nature of her death, would have
been sufficient to draw together a large crowd. Among those who thus
endeavored to show their respect was Miss Stuyvesant.

"I could not join you here in your pleasures," she whispered to Paula in
the short interview they had upstairs, preparatory to the services, "but
I cannot keep away in the dark hours!" And from her look and the clasp
of her hand, Paula gained fresh courage to endure the slow pressure of
anxiety and grief with which she was secretly burdened.

Moreover she had the pleasure of introducing her beloved friend to Mr.
Bertram Sylvester, a pleasure which she had long promised herself
whenever the opportunity should arrive, as Miss Stuyvesant was somewhat
of an en