"Yes, sir. I heard she was there to-day, though we thought we had laid her under the trees in our churchyard. Is that the business you have come about?" asked Brown.
"Yes. I have come to know where the true Fanny Brown is buried, for it is Mary Brown that is still living in the hospital."
Mrs. Brown heard the words, and her heart almost died within her.
"My child's name is Fanny, not Mary," she said, going to the door.
"Will you come inside, sir, and let us see what this other mistake may mean?" said Brown.
The man stepped in. "My daughter's name was Frances Florence Brown, and she was about sixteen. I had sent her to boarding-school since her mother's death, two years ago. The fever, it seems, broke out in the school, and they were obliged to send my poor girl away before I could have any choice in the matter. She was called Fanny by her schoolfellows, and that was how the name of 'Fanny' came to be entered in the books of the hospital. I have written again and again to the authorities, and was told each time that my child was seriously ill, until yesterday I insisted upon seeing her for myself; and then, judge what my feelings were to see that it was altogether another Fanny Brown, and not my daughter at all. The Nurse told me then that this girl said her name was Fanny, but she had been entered in the books as Mary Brown. She had been admitted on the same day, and about the same time as my daughter, and that was how the two names had been confused. You received notice of your daughter's death, when my daughter died."
"May I ask, sir, what sort of a girl your child was?" said Brown.
"Rather small for her age, and very delicate," said the grieved father, with tears in his eyes. "The girl I saw to-day is not the least like her."
"No, sir, I think there cannot be any mistake this time, for our Vicar went to see our Fanny this morning, and he would be sure to know her. Besides, she talked to him for a little while, though they would not let him stay very long," said Mrs. Brown.
It was agreed before the stranger left that he should come early the next day to see where his child was buried; and he did this before the Browns went to the hospital. The Vicar had been informed of this, and met them at the grave; and the bunch of flowers left there for "the stranger" touched the father's heart very deeply.