irl whom he met in
London when home on leave. Jean offered no comment on the wisdom or the
unwisdom of the match, but she told me the young Mrs. Jardine had sent
for her (Jean was then a schoolgirl of fourteen) and had given her a
good time in London before she sailed with her husband for India. Rather
unusual when you come to think of it! It isn't every young wife who has
thought on the honeymoon for schoolgirl stepdaughters, and Jean had seen
that it was kind and unselfish, and was grateful. The Jardines sailed
for India, and were hardly landed when Mr. Jardine died of cholera. The
young widow stayed on--I suppose she liked the life and had little to
bring her back to England--and when the first year of her widowhood was
over she married a young soldier, Gervase Taunton. I'm almost sure I
remember meeting him about--good-looking, perfect dancer, crack polo
player. They seem, in spite of lack of money, to have been supremely
happy for about three years, when young Taunton was killed playing polo.
The poor girl broke her heart and slipped out of life, leaving behind
one little boy. She had no relations, and Captain Taunton had no one
very near, and when she was dying she had left instructions. 'Send my
boy to Scotland. Ask Jean to bring him up. She will understand.' I
suppose she had detected even in the schoolgirl of fourteen Jean's most
outstanding quality, steadfastness, and entrusted the child to her
without a qualm.

"So the baby of two was sent to the child of eighteen, and Jean glows
with gratitude and tells you how good it was of her at-one-time
stepmother to think of her! That is how she seems to take life: no
suspecting of motives: looking for, therefore perhaps finding, kindness
on every side. It is rather absurd in this wicked world, but I shouldn't
wonder if it made for happiness.

"The Taunton child has, of course, no shadow of claim on the Jardines,
but he is to them a most treasured little brother. 'The Mhor,' as they
call him, is their great amusement and delight. He is quite absurdly
good-looking, with great grave green eyes and a head most wonderfully
set on his shoulders. He has a small income of his own, which Jean
keeps religiously apart so that he may be able to go to a good school
when he is old enough.

"The great-aunt who brought up the Jardines must have been an uncommon
old woman. She died (perhaps luckily) just as the young Gervase Taunton
came on the scene.

"It seems she always dresse