ith me to your rooms, and I will tell you
everything.'

'Then there is the deuce to pay; I thought so,' he said, as he followed
her upstairs into the Gretchen room, where he stood for a moment, amazed
at the effect produced by the flowers and vines which Jerrie had
arranged so skilfully, 'It is like Eden,' he said, 'and Gretchen is here
with me. Darling Gretchen!' he continued, as he walked up to the picture
and kissed the lovely face which, it seemed to Jerrie, smiled in
benediction upon them both, the husband and the daughter, as they stood
there side by side, Jerrie's hands resting on his shoulder, which she
pressed hard, as if to steady herself, while he talked to the inanimate
face before him.

'Have you been lonesome, Gretchen, and are you glad to have me back
again! Poor little Gretchen!' And now he turned to Jerrie, who was pale
to the lips, and said: 'It all came to me on the top of those mountains
about Gretchen--who she was, and how I forgot her so long--that is the
strangest of all; and, Cherry,' here his voice dropped to a whisper, 'I
know for sure that Gretchen is dead--that came to me, too.'

'Yes, Gretchen is dead,' Jerrie answered him, with the sound of a sob in
her own voice, while her hands tightened their grasp on his shoulder, as
she went on; 'I have had a message from Gretchen, and that is why we
sent for you.'

Jerrie's hands were not strong enough to hold him then, and, wrenching
himself from her, he stood confronting her with a look more like that of
a maniac than any she had ever seen in him before, and which might have
frightened one with nerves less strong than Jerrie's. But she was not
afraid, and a strange calmness fell upon her, now that she had actually
reached a point where she must act, and her eyes, which looked so
steadily into Arthur's, held them fast, even while he interrogated her
rapidly.

'A message from Gretchen! How, when, and where is it? Give it to me
quick, or tell me about it? Where is she, and when is she coming?'

'Never!' answered Jerrie sadly. 'I told you she was dead. But sit here,'
and she motioned him to a large cushioned chair. 'Sit here and let me
tell you what I know of Gretchen.'

Something in the girl's manner mastered him and made him a child in her
hands.

Sinking into the chair, pale and panting with excitement, he leaned his
head back wearily, and closing his eyes, said to her:

'Begin. What did Gretchen write?'

Jerrie felt that she could not s