n imagine what food for talk in the
village, and most of it was her fault, and I was maddened by it.

"This went on for two years. I could not bear to go away, and yet
there was no use in staying, for little by little all news of him
ceased. Those servants who were known to have gossiped were dismissed,
and their places filled by others who could be trusted to be silent.

"The old nurse, who would, I know, have told me, never went outside the
grounds, and all the talk had so disgusted me that, with all my longing
to know, I don't think I could have questioned a servant.

"Then my aunt died suddenly, and I had to leave. I had no money, and
in consequence no choice in the matter. I joined my father, who was at
that time in Canada, and remained with him, travelling all over the
world wherever his fancy took him until his death three years ago. By
that time I had made enough money by my books to know that a livelihood
was assured to me, and I came here.

"I could not discover for some time whether he was alive or dead. I
heard that Lady Louisa had died a few months before, and I wouldn't ask
any direct questions out of respect for her. If she had managed to
keep the whole pitiful story a secret, to bury it in oblivion, what
right had I to drag it to light again--to make her and him the subject
of idle tittle-tattle, for that was what it amounted to? She was at
rest beyond the reach of tongues, and in a way that made it worse, for
she wasn't there to guard him from lies.

"At last one day I went to see her grave in the churchyard, and then I
knew. Have you seen it?"

"No," answered Philippa. "The doctor asked me the same question, and
whether I knew what was written on it."

"Her grave is just inside the lych-gate at the top of the steps. Over
it is a plain white marble cross with her name and the dates, and these
are the words on the base of it--

"'I leave my best beloved in His care,
And go because He calls me--He whose voice
I cannot disobey; praying that He
Who heard the widow's prayer in Galilee
Will hear mine now, and bring you soon to me
Where tears and pains are not; that we may stand
Before His throne together, hand in hand.'

I think that if her heart had not broken before it must have broken
when she had to leave him."

"The doctor told me that she wrote the words and asked that they should
be placed on her tombstone," said Philippa. "Poor soul!"

"I did not know that," re