forth their breaking hearts in prayer. They rose up soothed and
strengthened, with the feeling that their dear father and mother were
still near them. They found a sad consolation in weaving garlands and
flowery crosses, which they laid on the coffin with tender reverence.

When the day of the funeral came, Madame Guirlande kept them very near
her, holding a hand of each. She had provided them with long veils,
which she requested them not to remove; for she remembered how
anxiously their father had screened their beauty from the public gaze.
A number of merchants, who had known and respected Mr. Royal, followed
his remains to the grave. Most of them had heard of his quadroon
connection, and some supposed that the veiled mourners might be his
daughters; but such things were too common to excite remark, or to
awaken much interest. The girls passed almost unnoticed; having, out
of respect to the wishes of their friend, stifled their sobs till they
were alone in the carriage with her and their old music-teacher.

The conviction that he was not destined to long life, which Mr. Royal
had expressed to Alfred King, was founded on the opinion of physicians
that his heart was diseased. This furnished an additional motive for
closing his business as soon as possible, and taking his children to
France. But the failure of several houses with which he was connected
brought unexpected entanglements. Month by month, these became more
complicated, and necessarily delayed the intended emigration. His
anxiety concerning his daughters increased to an oppressive degree,
and aggravated the symptoms of his disease. With his habitual desire
to screen them from everything unpleasant, he unwisely concealed from
them both his illness and his pecuniary difficulties. He knew he could
no longer be a rich man; but he still had hope of saving enough of his
fortune to live in a moderate way in some cheap district of France.