All at once there seemed to be a tingling in the air between them.

“I knew it. Now it’s come. I wasn’t brave enough-I couldn’t face it. I can’t die without telling you-I never went to Somerset House-I was afraid-”

“Why were you afraid?”

“I loved you so much.”

Jenny’s heart melted in her.

“Oh, Garsty!”

“I thought-it was all wrong-I can see now. I thought if I said-and if it was true-that they were married-I thought-”

“Don’t trouble now, Garsty.”

“I must-there’s so little time-”

“Tomorrow-”

“I haven’t got any tomorrow. I never went to Somerset House-they would have taken you away from me. I couldn’t bear it-it was because I loved you so much-” The lids came down again. There was a long silence which gradually became peaceful. Then suddenly the hand under Jenny’s twitched and pulled. The eyes opened.

“You were born-here in this room. She came back-Jennifer came back. She never spoke. They weren’t here then, you know-Mrs. Forbes and the boys. The house was empty-because of course it belonged to him, and if she was his wife and he was dead, then it belonged to Jennifer and to her baby. Only she never said-she never said anything. She would sit all day by the window. What I told her to do she did. She wasn’t ill -not in body-but she was like a person in a dream. I had this cottage and we stayed here. The Forbeses came-because he was the heir. Mrs. Forbes came down and had a talk with me. She said it was stupid to stay on here-but I said, ‘Jennifer has no people and she has no money- but I’ve got this cottage-it’s my own-no one can turn me out.’ She saw I meant it, and she didn’t say any more. Jennifer never roused at all. When her time came and you were born it was all easy. But she died that night-”

There was a long pause. When Miss Garstone spoke again there was a difference in her. She did not speak to Jenny. The eyes that she opened did not see her. They were fixed on someone else. Jenny had the feeling that if she could turn her head she would see who that someone was. She could not see, but she knew what Garsty saw. There was a presence in the room. She didn’t know whether it was the presence of death or of life. She saw Garsty smile and say something, but she did not know what she said. And then in a moment it was over and Garsty was gone.