"Yes, you has!" cried little Fay, creeping close to him. "I dess you is pretty dood man. One time I had a birdie that die, and it was all tovered up in the dround. You don't want to be all tovered up like dat. I don't want you to be."
"God bless you!" murmured the Hermit, thickly. "You are a dear, sweet child, and I shall not live to make more trouble for your father and mother."
All was quiet at the mouth of the cave. Frank was longing to hear more of the Hermit's story, and so he questioned the man.
"How does it happen that Foster Fairfax and his wife are not living together?"
"How?"
"I appeared like one risen from the dead, and Marian was prostrated by the sight of me. I denounced Foster, called him a false friend and a dastardly traitor. I was insane at the moment, and it is remarkable that I did not kill him. However, I swore to have his life if we ever met again. Then I left them."
"And you did not see Fairfax again till you met him here in the park?"
"No."
"How did it happen he left his wife?"