left his lordship."

"What is the matter there?" cried the patient, sharply and querulously.
"Clear the room--I would be alone with my nephew."

The doctors disappeared; the old women reluctantly followed; when,
suddenly, the little Evelyn sprang forward and threw herself on the
breast of the dying man, sobbing as if her heart would break.

"My poor child!--my sweet child--my own, own darling!" gasped out Lord
Vargrave, folding his weak arms round her; "bless you--bless you! and
God will bless you. My wife," he added, with a voice far more tender
than Lumley had ever before heard him address to Lady Vargrave, "if
these be the last words I utter to you, let them express all the
gratitude I feel for you, for duties never more piously discharged: you
did not love me, it is true; and in health and pride that knowledge
often made me unjust to you. I have been severe--you have had much to
bear--forgive me."

"Oh! do not talk thus; you have been nobler, kinder than my deserts.
How much I owe you--how little I have done in return!"

"I cannot bear this; leave me, my dear, leave me. I may live yet--I
hope I may--I do not want to die. The cup may pass from me.
Go--go--and you, my child."

"Ah, let /me/ stay."

Lord Vargrave kissed the little creature, as she clung to his neck, with
passionate affection, and then, placing her in her mother's arms, fell