"I knew it! Pick up the letter. A boy! They have called him Maurice Malherb? That is certain."
She read again; then shook her head.
"Not so?" he asked with a heightened voice. "Then 'tis 'Malherb'—just the name. Yet I could have wished——"
"No, dear heart. They have not called him Malherb."
He started and flushed.
"Stark's name alone, I suppose? That is not well. I marvel they could do so improper a thing! Is it not enough that she has broken our hearthstone? Will she also forget us?
"The little one is called John, dear Maurice—only that."
He was quite silent for a moment, staring before him. His warmth died away and then he spoke.
"Good—very good! Well thought on! I'm glad they've done that. And the dead would be glad. Perchance he is so. All is right with our girl, you say—you hide nothing?"
"All is as right as our love could wish."