It seemed that Miss Mallory had seen Egypt, India, and Canada, in the course of her last two years of life with her father.

Their travels had spread over more than a year; and Diana had brought Mr.
Mallory back to the Riviera, only, it appeared, to die, after some eight months of illness.

But in securing to her that year of travel, her father had bestowed his last and best gift upon her.

Aided by his affection, and stimulated by his knowledge, her mind and character had rapidly developed.

And, as through a natural outlet, all her starved devotion for the England she had never known, had spent itself upon the Englands she found beyond the seas; upon the hard-worked soldiers and civilians in lonely Indian stations, upon the captains of English ships, upon the pioneers of Canadian fields and railways; upon England, in fact, as the arbiter of oriental faiths--the wrestler with the desert--the mother and maker of new states.