The lady bowed.

"You _must_ be very dull here," exclaimed the wily Abraham, gazing round
him with the internal consciousness that the death of every soul he knew
would not make _him_ dull in such a paradise--"very dull, I am sure!"

"It was a cheerful home while _he_ lived, sir," answered Margaret, most
ruefully.

"Ah--yes," sighed Abraham; "but now, too true--too true."

"I was thinking, Mr Allcraft"--

"Before you name your thought, dear madam, let me explain at once the
object of my visit. I am an old man--a father, and a widower--but I am
also" (oh, crafty Allcraft!) "a simple and an artless man. My words are
few, but they express my meaning faithfully. There was a time when, placed
in similar circumstances to your own, I would have given the world had a
friend stepped forward to remove me for a season from the scene of all my
misery. I remembered this whilst dwelling on your solitariness. Within a
few miles of this place, I have a little box untenanted at present. Let me
entreat you to retire to it, if only for a week. I place it at your
command, and shall be honoured if you will accept the offer. The house is
sweetly situated--the prospect charming; a temporary change cannot but
soothe your grief. I am a father, madam--the father of a noble youth--and
I know what you must suffer."

"You anticipate my wish, sir, and I am grateful for your kindness. I was
about to move many miles away; but it is advisable, perhaps, that for the