He had hoped that Miss Davis would have got very angry, and have said some amusing things.

Her quiet dignity disappointed him, and with an impulse of wild boyish mischief he resolved to try if he could not startle her.
"I am sorry to say I have not told you everything," he blurted out suddenly.

"I ought to prepare you for the worst, but I don't know how." "Speak, I beg of you," faltered Miss Davis.
"Your uncle is dead, and has left all his fortune, every penny, to his wife." A look came over Miss Davis's face which the children could not understand.
"My brother!" she said, "can you tell me what has become of my little brother ?" "Run away," said Mark, who had not known till this moment that she had a brother.
Miss Davis gasped and leaned her face forward on the table.

The next moment they saw her slip away off her chair to the floor.

She had fainted.
Mark was greatly alarmed, and struck with sudden remorse.