“What about Nancy?” said Miss Roy, fixing her eyes on the Captain’s face.
“Nancy!” said the Captain. “Don’t you remember?”
“Remember? Oh yes! Could I forget? But I had hoped”——
“What, my dear lady?”
“That some explanation had been arrived at. How is it possible to credit a child like Nancy with cruelty?”
But then Miss Roy recalled the incident of the starving canary, and her voice faltered as she spoke.
“There is no explanation,” said Captain Richmond. “I feel nearly wild about it, I assure you. I have thought over the matter until my head ached; but the entry was made by my sister-in-law, a woman who does not make mistakes. It is impossible there could be anything wrong in the entry. What Nancy did we don’t know, but that mark takes away even the remotest chance of her winning the Royal Cross.”
“Then you will tell her,” said Miss Roy; “you will at least give her a chance of explaining, if any explanation is possible?”
“Yes; I shall have to speak of it at the time. It will be a painful moment, but it is only just to the little girl.”
“I feel certain,” said Miss Roy, “that Nancy will be able to put matters right.”