Gloria slowly dressed herself, and then requested that her uncle might be called in.
Dame Lindsay, meanwhile, had placed coffee, hot rolls, and broiled ham on the breakfast table, and now she went to the door and summoned Colonel de Crespigney.
“I hope you will do us the pleasure to take a cup of coffee this Christmas morning, sir,” said the dame, as she placed a chair at the table for her last visitor.
“Thanks, no; I took coffee before I left home this morning,” answered the colonel.
But Gloria sat down and drank a little cup with her hostess.
Then, not to keep her guardian waiting longer than necessary, she arose, and put on her hat and sack to depart.
“Good-by, dear friend,” she said, offering her cheek to the old dame’s kiss. “Good-by. I shall never forget your motherly kindness to me. And please to say good-by for me to David Lindsay, and tell him that I shall hold my life sweeter from this day forth, because he saved it.”
With this grateful and gracious message to her preserver, Gloria joined her uncle and left the cottage.
Involuntarily her eyes roamed all over the islet, in search of her old playmate; but in vain, for he was nowhere to be seen.
“Lean heavily on me, my child. You are pale and trembling,” said De Crespigney, tenderly, as he drew her hand under his arm and slackened his steps to accommodate them to her weary walk.