He was going away, but seeming for the first time to become aware of Eva’s presence, he gave her a shifty glance from the corner of his eye, saying earnestly: “I heard you had got well and were going to leave Weston, little Eva. I wish I was in your place. If you see any of my relatives when you get out, please tell them I am dead, and that I died a most horrible death. I wish they would come to my funeral. Good-by,” and he put out his cold, clammy hand and pressed hers, sending a shudder through all her veins. He was so horribly realistic it seemed as if he were indeed a living corpse now stalking away in grim intent to seek the style book on undertaking. “How pitiful!” she cried, looking up at Doctor Rupert with such pearly tears in her eyes that he longed to clasp her in his arms and kiss them away. She added almost bitterly: “It is a cruel fate that dooms me to spend my life amid such sad surroundings.” He answered gently: “It is not likely you will stay here long. Like all the other pretty girls, you will be sure to marry soon and leave here to be the queen of a happy home.” His voice trembled with emotion, his eyes were bent on her with wistful tenderness, and little Eva blushed and dimpled exquisitely. “Why do you think so?” she murmured softly, a smile chasing away her tears. “You have a lover,” he answered frankly. She was too ingenuous to deny it, but she said, with a stifled sigh: “I do not know his name.” “And yet you love him?” Little Eva was all one rosy blush now, and she hung her head, faltering: “How can one love a person one has never seen?” “Because his full heart has spoken to you in his offerings of love, and yours has responded to the test. You are deeply interested in your unknown lover who has chosen so romantic a way to win your heart.” “You are very confident that he has won my heart,” she pouted with pretty coquetry, avoiding his eyes and playing with the pansies on her breast. “Is there any doubt of it?” he asked hoarsely, paling with sudden alarm lest he had been mistaken. She was so dear and so lovely, and he had been so sure she was won--too sure, it seemed, for she answered again, half pettishly, as if in offense: “How could a young girl love one that she had never seen?” “I have known young people to fall in love from carrying on a correspondence without ever having met,” he replied eagerly. “But they must surely have exchanged photographs--they must have known how they each looked,” she objected. “No; they only saw each other’s beautiful souls through their letters.” Did Eva have any suspicion of him? She suddenly flashed her dark eyes at him full of dawning mischief, and said lightly: “I’m not ethereal enough to fall in love with just a soul, for they sometimes inhabit very plain bodies. If I ever love, it must be one who is very handsome and winning. Oh, I would give almost anything for one glimpse of my mysterious lover!”