much you have suffered during all of these years. But is it right for
a stranger to occupy this room? Could I not sleep on the sofa
downstairs? I would be quite comfortable there."

"No, no. You must stay here. I could never before bear the thought of
any one sleeping in this room. But with you it is so different. You
seem to me like my own daughter, and that you have a right here which
no one else ever had. I cannot understand the feeling."

"May I be your daughter, then?" the younger woman eagerly asked, as she
caught Mrs. Royal's hands in her own hot ones. "It will make my heart
so happy to be able to call you mother, and to feel that this is my
home."

In reply, Mrs. Royal kissed the fair face so close to hers, and gave a
loving pressure to the firm white hands. For some time they remained
in this position, unheeding the storm which was still raging outside.
Tears were in their eyes, but a new-found joy had entered their hearts,
which made that chamber of sacred memories a more hallowed spot than
ever.

When at last alone, and with the door closed, the singer stood as if
spellbound. Could it be possible, she asked herself, that this was his
room, just as he had left it years before? The memory of the past rose
suddenly and vividly to her mind. She saw again his straight manly
figure, with the light of love in his eyes, as he kissed her and bade
her good-bye on the morning of that fateful day years ago. She
recalled his words of cheer and comfort as he told her how he would win
in the battle of life, and make a home for her and their little one.
Then came the terrible news, followed by the fearful days and weeks of