“He gave a sudden start, which I could see shook his whole frame, while an expression of pain passed over his features. His face grew pale as my own, and he leaned forward with an eager look in his eyes, as if about to speak. Oh, if I had only smiled, if I had but spoken one word, all would have been well even then; but I did not, and drawing himself erect again, he inclined his head with haughty grace, and was gone. “Many times I longed to write him a line, begging him to come to me, if only for an hour, that I might hear him say he forgave me; many times I had the pen in my hand to do so, but pride whispered, ‘you are sick and feeble, it is his place to come to you, not yours to beg his presence;’ and so we, who to-day might have been united and loving, were parted forever. “My parents decided soon after to take me abroad, as the physician said my health would never improve unless I had some change, and we set sail for the United States early in May. “In July, after our arrival here, they both sickened and died very suddenly, and I was left alone a stranger in a strange country. “I could not return to England, where I had suffered and lost so much, and I could not remain here alone. Accordingly, I wrote to my brother, begging him to take his family and come to me. I had often heard him say he would like to live in America. I commissioned him to settle the estate, as far as I was concerned, to the best of his ability, and bring me the proceeds when he came. “To my great comfort, he consented to my request, and in October arrived in New York with his wife and child—their son, who was your father, Brownie. “We decided to make our home in this city, having spent some time in traveling, and finding no other place we liked so well; and here they lived until God called them, and here I have lived ever since. “Five years after our arrival we heard that Lord Dunforth had married Helen Capel’s cousin, Lady Leonie Herford, and just three months later I learned that but for Miss Capel’s treachery I might have been his wife.” “Oh, auntie! only just three months after his marriage!” exclaimed Brownie, in deep distress. “Yes, dear, those three months were all that stood between me and my future happiness; but what matters it if it had been but a day, or an hour even, if it were that much too late? “I found out that Miss Capel never gave that note of mine to Lord Dunforth, but told him instead that I utterly refused to see him then and ever after. “When he met me driving afterward, and I did not even recognize him, but sat so cold and indifferent, he was confirmed in the truth of her statement. I was told that it was a terrible blow to him, for he loved me, and would have made me his wife notwithstanding all that had passed. He left England almost immediately after we sailed for America, and did not return until a year before his marriage.” “Who told you all this, auntie?”