But let Marshall carry Damaris news daily—­twice daily, if needs be.  Let him read with her, sing to her; so that she, charming child, should miss her poor Henrietta, and their happy meetings at the little pavilion, the less.  Especially let him seek the young girl, and strive to entertain her, when Sir Charles and Colonel Carteret were engaged on their good Samaritan visits to General Frayling.

“This break in our cherished intercourse,” Henrietta wrote, in one of those many Wace-borne bulletins, “grieves me more than I can express.  Permit Marshall to do all in his power to make up for this hospital incarceration of mine.  Poor dear fellow, it is such a boon to him.  I really crave to procure him any pleasure I can—­above all the pleasure of being with you, which he values so very highly.  All his best qualities show in this time of trial.  He is only too faithful and wears himself to positive fiddle-strings in my service and that of the General.  I send him to you, darling child, for a little change and recreation—­relaxation from the strain of my husband’s illness.  Marshall is so sympathetic and feels for others so deeply.  His is indeed a rare nature; but one which does not, alas! always quite do itself justice.  I attribute this to an unfortunate upbringing rather than to any real fault in himself.  So be good to him, Damaris.  In being good to him—­as I have said all along—­you are being good to your fondly loving and, just now, sorely tried Henrietta Frayling.”

All which sounded a note designed to find an echo in Damaris’ generous heart.  Which it did—­this the more readily because, still penitent for her recent trifle of wild-oats sowing, our beloved maiden was particularly emulous of good works, the missionary spirit all agog in her.  She was out to comfort, to sympathize and to sustain.  Hence she doubly welcomed that high-coloured hybrid, Wace—­actor, cleric, vocalist in one.  Guilelessly she indulged and mothered him, overlooking his egoism, his touchiness and peevishness, his occasional defects of breeding and of taste.  She permitted him, moreover, to talk without restraint upon his favourite subject—­that of himself.  To retail the despairs of an ailing and unhappy childhood; the thwarted aspirations of a romantic and sensitive boyhood; the doubts and disappointments of a young manhood conspicuously rich in promise, had the fates and his fellow creatures but shown themselves more intelligently sensible of his merits and his needs.

For this was the burden of his recurrent lament.  Throughout life he had been misunderstood.

“But you, Miss Verity, do understand me,” he almost passionately declared, waving white effeminate hands.  “Ah! a pure influence such as yours”—­

Here, rather to Damaris’ thankfulness, words appeared to fail him.  He moved to the piano and exhaled his remaining emotion in song.

Affairs had reached the above point about ten days after Henrietta’s party and Damaris’ midnight walk with Colonel Carteret by the shore of the sounding sea.  General Frayling, though mending, was still possessed of a golden complexion and a temperature slightly above the normal, while his dutiful wife, still self-immured, was in close attendance, when an event occurred which occasioned her considerable speculation and perplexity.