But a strange thing was to happen--something showing the very irony of Fate--before I left that old life behind me for ever. Some mad desire to see again these people for whom, in a sense, I was laying down my life--or so much of it as mattered--came upon me; I went on, unsteadily and hesitatingly, towards the house. It was a bleak winter day, with a rough and surly wind playing havoc with the dead leaves in the grounds, and whirling them up in clouds, and tossing them upon the terrace, and against the windows. As I pushed open the gate--to look into that place of my dreams for the last time--I saw a little picture before me that seemed, as it were, to round off all that had happened there, or all that might happen in the future. I saw young Arnold Millard and the girl standing, arm in arm; the girl's disengaged hand was stretched out to the woman who was her mother. That elder Barbara seemed to be saying something to them both, and pointing to the house. The girl was smiling; and suddenly she turned, and drew the elder woman towards the terrace, with the boy following. Scarcely knowing what I did, I crept through the neglected garden, and went towards the terrace after them; they did not turn their heads, and they did not see me. I knew, of course, that the woman who was supposed to have died so many years before was but keeping her promise to me, and was on her way to confront her husband. I felt that I must know what happened--must understand under what circumstances, whether of possible happiness or of misery, I left her. I crept nearer until, as the girl and Arnold Millard opened the narrow door at the end of the terrace, and passed into that room I knew so well, I was close at hand. The elder Barbara waited outside, looking into the room, and evidently hesitating what to do. I was within a dozen yards of her. Inside the room I saw Lucas Savell seated; the girl was on her knees beside him, talking to him. In the silence I heard her voice quite clearly. "Dear father--only a good, kind friend, who has been almost like a mother to me--who has helped and protected me. I want you to see her." Even as Lucas Savell feebly got to his feet, and stared in bewilderment at his daughter, I understood that Barbara had not told her child of the relationship between them; that was to be left for the moment when she should greet her husband. The elder Barbara had passed through the doorway, and was now inside the room; Lucas Savell was still staring in a dazed fashion at his daughter. "I--I don't understand," I heard him say. The elder woman stepped forward into the room. "Lucas!--Lucas Savell!" she said falteringly; and stood still. I was totally unprepared for what happened; it was all over in a mere matter of seconds. Savell swung round quickly, with a cry, and then took a step towards the woman who stood just within the doorway of the room; cried out her name in a terrible voice, and dropped to his knees-- "Barbara! Oh!--my God!--Barbara!"