"Nurse," said he, "Miss Pomeroy is to be married at once. You must see--that she has every thing prepared--suitably--and of the very best." The ayah stood speechless with amazement. This feeling was increased when Zillah said, in a cold monotone: "Don't look surprised, nurse. It's quite true. I am to be married within a day or two." Her master's absurdities the ayah could account for on the ground of delirium; but was "Little Missy" mad too? Perhaps sorrow had turned her brain, she thought. At any rate, it would be best to humor them. "Missy had a white silk down from London last week, Sir." "Not satin? A wedding-dress should be of satin," said the General. "It does not matter, so that it is all white," said the nurse, with decision. "Doesn't it? Very well," said the General. "But she must have a veil, nurse, and plenty of jewels. She must look like my darling. You remember, nurse, how she looked." "Indeed I do, sahib, and you may leave all to me. I will see that Missy is as fine and grand as any of them." The ayah began already to feel excited, and to fall in with this wild proposal. The very mention of dress had excited her Indian love of finery. "That is right," said the General; "attend to it all. Spare no expense. Don't you go, my child," he continued, as Zillah rose and walked shudderingly to the window. "I think I can sleep, now that my mind is at ease. Stay by me, my darling child." "Oh, papa, do you think I would leave you?" said Zillah, and she came back to the bed. The doctor, who had been waiting until the General should become a little calmer, now administered an anodyne, and he fell asleep, his hand clasped in Zillah's, while she, fearful of making the slightest movement, sat motionless and despairing far into the night. CHAPTER X. A WEDDING IN EXTREMIS. Two days passed; on the second Guy Molyneux arrived. Lord Chetwynde was ill, and could not travel. He sent a letter, however, full of earnest and hopeful sympathy. He would not believe that things were as bad as his old friend feared; the instant that he could leave he would come up to Pomeroy Court; or if by God's providence the worst should take place, he would instantly fetch Zillah to Chetwynde Castle; and the General might rely upon it that, so far as love and tenderness could supply a father's place, she should not feel her loss.