you will stay as long as it is
convenient to you. You must have many things to arrange; pray consider
Fernley as your own house until you have everything comfortably
settled."

"Thank you, John! I heard your own voice then, the kindest voice
that--good-by, John Montfort!"

* * * * *

"Gone, you say, Margaret? When did she go? I fully expected to see her
again."

"This afternoon, Uncle John. We could not persuade her to stay longer.
Her man of business came down this morning early, and arranged
everything with the farmer and the servants, and finally took her and
Antonia back with him. It is very sudden! I should be frightened at her
attempting the voyage, but Grace says it is just what Doctor Flower has
been wishing and hoping for. Poor Mrs. Peyton! I shall miss her very
much, Uncle John. She is very, very lovable; and, somehow, these few
days have so softened and changed her--I hardly know how to put it, but
it is as if her heart had waked up after a long sleep."

"Perhaps it has!" said Mr. Montfort, thoughtfully. "Poor Emily! she has
had an unhappy life; yet when she was your age, Margaret, Emily
Silverton thought she had the world at her feet. Life is instructive, my
child. Did she tell you what she had done about Grace?"

Margaret shook her head. "She said you would have something to tell me,
but she would not say anything more. She was bent on keeping control
over her nerves, I think, so I tried just to keep things quiet and
cheerful, and I saw that was what she wanted. What is it about Grace?"

Thereupon Mr. Montfort told the story of the jewels, and how he had
taken them to town with him the day before. "It will be a great change
for our Grace," he said. "She has had very little money, I think you
told me, Margaret?"

"Oh, almost none, Uncle John. She has had a very, very hard time; and
since her father died last year--she seems to have no other
relations--she has supported herself entirely. Oh, this is a kind thing
of Mrs. Peyton; and I understand just how she feels and why she wants to
do it. Aren't the jewels worth a good deal, Uncle John?"

"Guess how much, little girl!"

"How can I? Perhaps as much as a thousand dollars? Oh, Uncle John!"

"Perhaps, Margaret; my child, Tiffany's head man thinks,--he could not
price them all exactly,--but, roughly speaking, he thinks--that this
collection is worth--fifty thousand dollars. Grace is, comparatively
speaking, a rich wom