"Yes; I have never mentioned it, for you have been so happy I could not bear to tell you anything unpleasant. He saw me one evening on the boat, as I was coming home after putting your house in order, and followed me here. He looked poorly—was really ill, and I sent him to Mrs. Harding for the night. He was taken alarmingly worse before morning, when I had him brought here, and Mrs. Harding took care of him, in the studio, for several weeks——"
"In the studio!" repeated Dorothy, breathless from astonishment. "Did she know who he was?"
"No, dear; he gave his name to her as Williams, and she has always believed he was some one whom I had once known in California, and wished to befriend in his trouble—at least, until his relatives could be notified."
"Then he was here after I returned?"
"Yes, for a few days only; but, before that, as soon as he began to gain strength, he seemed to want to take up his work again. He painted two lovely pictures here, then hired a couple of rooms downtown, where he worked until he made enough money to take him abroad again."
"Mamma! then you were the good angel who rekindled the vital spark!" cried Dorothy, who was now almost sobbing.
"It has comforted me, dear, to think that I may have helped to inspire him to take up his art again," Helen returned, adding: "But it was Mrs. Everleigh who was really his 'good angel.'"
"Mrs. Everleigh!"
"Yes, I brought her here to see your father, and you know what she is able to do for people who will listen to her; but I will tell you more about that later."
"Did she know who he was?" Dorothy inquired.