"Now, if Eliza can be spared for an hour, she shall come home for you to tell her the good news yourself. Brown, I expect, will be home to-night, for I sent him a telegram to say he had better come and have matters cleared up."
As Mrs. Brown anticipated, when she thanked the Vicar for his promise that Eliza should come home for an hour or two, it was not long before the girl appeared, and then all the wonderful tale had to be told over again. When Selina and Minnie came home from school, they had a fresh item of news. A friend of Fanny's, not having heard the story taken to school in the morning, had brought a bunch of flowers to put on her grave, and then, hearing what had happened, Miss Martin had suggested that the flowers should still be placed on the grave, but with the inscription, "For the stranger who lies here instead of Fanny Brown."
By the last train Brown himself came home, having obtained leave to come and do what he could towards clearing up the mystery that led to the report of his daughter's death.
Like everybody else, he was disposed to think the present information might prove false, until his wife told him that the Vicar had been to the hospital and actually seen and talked with Fanny.
"We are both going to see her to-morrow," she added. "But we shall have to obey the rules and regulations, the Vicar told me, although they may seem strange to us."
"All right, we will do as we are told, for the sake of seeing our girl," said Brown; "but I shall want to know afterwards how they came to send us that blundering message."
But before they went to bed that night they were destined to hear something more about the matter. Just as they were going upstairs there came a knock at the door, and when it was opened Brown saw a well-dressed man, whom he took to be a clerk, standing on the doorstep.
"Is this Mr. Brown's?" he asked.
"Yes, sir, my name is Brown."
"And you have a daughter ill in the fever hospital?" said the stranger.