Jack drew a deep sigh of intense relief.

"Thank God for that!" he exclaimed, with profound gratitude. "Then
I'm saved, and you're saved. We can both understand one another in
that case. We know how it all happened!"

"Perfectly," I answered. "I know all now. As I sat there and
cowered, I heard a knock at the door, and before papa could answer,
you entered hastily. Papa looked round, I could hear, and saw who it
was in a second.

"'Oh, it's you!' he said, coldly. 'It's you, Dr. Ivor. And pray,
sir, what do you want here this evening?'"

"Go on!" Jack cried, intensely relieved, I could feel. "Let me see
how much more you can remember, Una."

"So you shut the door softly and said:

"'Yes, it's I, Mr. Callingham,'" I continued all aglow, and looking
into his eyes for confirmation. "'And I've come to tell you a fact
that may surprise you. Prepare for strange news. Richard Wharton has
returned to England!'

"I knew Richard Wharton was mamma's first husband, who was dead
before I was born, as I'd always been told: and I sat there aghast
at the news: it was so sudden, so crushing. I'd heard he'd been
wrecked, and I thought he'd come to life again; but as yet I didn't
suspect what was all the real meaning of it.