Mrs. Falchion, Volume 1.

nd looking at Mrs. Falchion in a curious cogitating fashion, not unusual to him. The look was non- committal, yet earnest. If it was not approval, it was not condemnation; but it might h

r father, who was anxiously awaiting us, Hungerford said in my ear: "A tragedy queen, Marmion." He said it so distinctly that Mrs. Falchion heard it, and she g

tion she had had, and anxious to escape inquiries and congratulations. Nor did she appear again until the 'Fulvia' got under way about six o'clock in the evening. As we moved ou

standing near me. "For whom i

, who is a passenger by

sed the 'Porcupine'

ning. "But"- here I thought her voice had a touch of breath

oor of the captain's cabin, there.

on her lips, and her eyes sought the group until it reste

this morning, for

n spent hours there. To me it is so foolish, heaping up a mound, and erecting a

e absorption-as of the oc

ion who need these things, together with crape and black-edged paper. It is all barbaric ritual. I know you think I am callous, but I cannot hel

icate words. You appear to have neither imagination, nor

now, I could not quite trust myself. "Indeed!" she repeated. "And who made you omniscient, Dr. Marmion? You hardly do yourself justice. You hold a secret. You insist on reminding me of the fact. Is that

begged her pardon for showing just now my knowledge of her secret. At this she said,

. "We are silent, first, because he wi

s with astonishing care

-" said I; but th

not pretend to a grief I did not feel. I acted no lie. H

r God's own heart, who loved me more than I deserved, repeate

ring, the

y one we us

rs in their

r relics sa

Earth, hence

t garnered o

s wind and d

s sun and sc

ne all-embr

more fors

e sky, with

t left it si

port. I was annoyed with myself for my share in the conversation so far. Mrs. Falchion's eyes had scarcely left th

; for, after all, you cannot glorify the dead body. Look at the mummy of Thothmes at Boulak, and thin

Suddenly he paused. His look was fixed upon Mrs. Falchion. A flush passed over his face, not exactly confusing, but painful, and again it le

d friend," she added, turning to me. He

ink to see yo

n," she inter

th surprise. "It is so many

y seven, the cycle for constitutional renewal. Dear me, how erudite t

repeated after her, with an attem

tlemen know each

is morning. I was visiting the

n's brother. She has told me; bu

told you?

saw that she did not use the

, after all, coincidence is not so strange in these days of much tra

more or less," she repeated

the milky haze, I came on deck again, and they were still near where I had left them an hour before. I passed, glancing at them as I did so. They did not look towards me. His eyes were turned to the shore

at-you!" There was a ri

in words, but I saw h

he deep notes of his vo

er, I looked back,

as he was, he had a strain of asceticism which puzzled me. It did not make him eccentric, but it was not a thing usual with the naval man. Again, he wished to be known simply as Mr. Roscoe, not as Captain Roscoe, which was his rank. He said nothing about having retired, yet I guessed he had done so. One evening, however, soon after we had left Aden, we were sitting in my cabin, and the conversation turned upon a recent novel

to England. I am resigning the navy." At that instant there flashed t

the matter from a stand- point not professional; the more so, that he expressed his determination to go to the newest part of a new country, to do the pioneer work of the Church. I asked him where he was going, and he said to the Rocky Mountains of Canada. I told him that my destination was Canada also. He warmly expressed the hope

somewhat hurriedly, "In the South Sea Islands," and then changed the subject. So, there was some mystery again? Was this woman never to be dissociated f

her devoted court I caught her eyes turned in his direction, and I thought I read in her smile a consciousness of power. And it so was. Very soon he was at her side. But I also noticed that he began to look worn, that his conversation with me lagged. I think that at this time I was so much occupied with tracing personal appearances to personal influen

d chariots as "the big handicap." He did not mean to be irreverent or unhistorical. He merely wished to enlighten Mrs. Callendar, who said he was very original, and quite clever at history. His really startling points, however, were his remarks upon the colours of the mountains of Egypt and the sunset tints to be seen on the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. To him the grey, and pink, and melancholy gold only brought up visions of a race at Epsom or Flemington-generally Flemington, where the staring Australian sun pours down on an emerald course, on a score of horses strain

scoe in conversation with Mrs. Falchion. Presently I saw him rise to go away. A moment after, in passing, I was

ll-ill,"

caught him as he

ured me that he had fever. I had set his haggard appearance down to som

t a troubled mind