My father will tell you all! It is a matter of life and death to our whole family interests.
May God keep you, Nadine!" the young man kindly said, as he bent and kissed her hand.

"I have tried to make your long journey bearable!" And then, a wrinkled face at a window appeared to end the coming disclosure, for Douglas was softening.

A harsh voice rose up in a half shriek: "Douglas! Douglas!" and the young man turned back, without another word, springing away, over the graveled walks.

Nadine's face grew ashen white, as the presage of coming disaster chilled her heart.
Without a word, Justine Delande led the startled girl into the house.
"You are to see your uncle at once! After our breakfast! And I will be with you." faltered Justine, with an averted face.
The orphaned girl was now dimly conscious of some impending blow.

She had been frightened at the solemnity of Douglas Fraser's hasty farewell, and, while Justine Delande affected to touch the breakfast spread in their rooms by the Swiss lady's maid, now gloomy in an attack of heimweh, Nadine saw a four-wheeler rattle away over the lawn, while old Andrew Fraser grimly watched it until the gates clanged behind the departing Anglo-Indian.