“I always knew he was clear.”
“Yes, but he can come back now all right. Eh! what an ass I am! I’ve begun at the wrong end. He wasn’t drowned—it was all a mistake; Miles saw him in Africa—Cranky, I say, come to her.”
“Yes, Master Herbert, you’ve been talking a great deal too much for your sister just off a journey. You’ll get the fever on again. Miss Joanna, you ought to know better than to let him run on; I sha’n’t be able to let you do nothing for him if this is the way.”
“Was it too sudden, Joan?” said Herbert, wistfully, as she bent to kiss his brow with trembling lips. “I couldn’t let any one tell you but myself, while I could; but I don’t seem able to go on. Is the Rector there, Cranky?”
“Yes, sir, waiting in the parlour.”
“Rector,” and Julius hurried in at once, “take her and tell her. I can’t do it after all.”
“Is he alive?” whispered Jenny, so much overcome that Julius had to hold her up for a moment as he led her into the other room.
“Really! She thinks me delirious,” said Herbert, rather amused. “Tell her all, Rector.”
“Really, Joan,” said Julius, putting her into the great chair, and holding her trembling hand. “Miles has seen him, has had him in his ship.”
“And you never told me!”