"Perhaps she has given her heart to some one who does not return her love—who may not even know of it," suggested Mrs. Garner, quietly.
"Impossible," declared Jack. "I have known her for years, I say, and if there was an affair of the heart between Jessie and any of the young men at the bindery, I should have known something of it."
Mrs. Garner came nearer and laid her hand on her son's arm.
"Are you sure, Jack?" she asked, in a low voice.
He gave a great start.
"I know of one whom she loves, and who, she knows, never thinks of her. When his life hung in jeopardy her secret was revealed to me."
"Surely you do not—you can not mean, mother—that she—that I—"
"Yes, that is what I mean," returned Mrs. Garner, quietly. "Jessie Staples loves you, my boy; but do not be hard on the poor girl. Remember, love goes where it is sent. She never intended that you should know it. She did not breathe a word about it to any one. It was by the merest chance that we made the discovery, and she does not dream that we know it."
Jack sank down in the nearest chair, quite overcome with dismay.
His mother came and bent over him, smoothing the fair hair back from his damp brow with a trembling hand, but uttering no word.