"Yes," the dying man answered, "yes, Sir Everard Kingsland."
"Sir Everard Kingsland is here."
He motioned the baronet to approach.
Sir Everard bent over him.
"Send them away," said the sick man. "Both. I want to speak to you alone."
Ho delivered the message, and the rector and doctor went into the passage to wait.
"Come closer," the captain said, and the young baronet knelt by the bedside, opposite Harrie, "and tell the truth to a dying man. Harrie, my darling, are you listening?"
"Yes, papa."
She lifted her pale young face, rigid in tearless despair.
"My own dear girl, I am going to leave a little sooner than I thought. I knew my death would be soon and sudden, but I did not expect it so soon, so awfully sudden as this!" His lips twitched spasmodically, and there was a brief pause. "I had hoped not to leave you alone and friendless in the world, penniless and unprotected. I hoped to live to see you the wife of some good man, but it is not to be. God wills for the best, my darling, and to Him I leave you."