It was but a child, the rector thought to himself, whom its father had seen but a few times.

He did not understand that to Lord Mountdean this child--his dying wife's legacy--was the one object in life, that she was all that remained to him of a love that had been dearer than life itself.

Commonplace words of comfort rose to his lips, but the earl did not even hear them.

He looked up suddenly, with a ghastly pallor still on his face.
"How foolish I am to alarm myself so greatly!" he said.

"Some one or other will be sure to know whither the woman has gone.