“Mrs. McPherson can return or remain where she is.  I have done my duty to her,” he thought, as he busied himself with the many details it was necessary to see to.  “If Neil were only here,” was his constant thought, as the day wore on, and he found himself in the rather awkward position of master of ceremonies in a strange house, deferred to and advised with not only by Anthony and Dorothy, but by all the people who came to assist.

But Neil did not come, and the night came and went, and it was morning again, and Bessie, who had passed the most of the preceding day in the garden, and had only returned to the house late in the afternoon, seemed a little brighter and fresher, with a look of expectancy in her face whenever a train dashed by.  She was watching for Neil, and when at about four o’clock a carriage came through the park gates, she rose and went swiftly to the door, meeting not Neil, but Jack Trevellian, whose face and manner told plainly how great was his sympathy with the desolate young girl.  He was in London, he said, and chanced to be calling at the Trevellian house where he learned that all the family, Neil included, were at Vichy, where Lady Jane had gone for the waters and bathing.  Just as he was leaving, Grey’s telegram was received, and the housekeeper, Mrs. Jervis, told him that another telegram had come two days before for Mr. Neil, from Stoneleigh.

“I did not open it,” she said, “as did not suppose it of any consequence.  He often has despatches, and as I expect him home within a week or ten days I put it on the table in the hall.  You will find it there,” she continued, as she saw Jack unceremoniously tear open the envelope just received, and heard his cry of surprise.

Then, quick as thought, he read the first telegram from Bessie, telling of her father’s illness and asking Neil to come at once.

“Poor little Bessie, alone with her dead father,” he said, and his heart throbbed with a great pity for the girl who, he supposed, was alone, for Grey had not signed his own but Bessie’s name to the message he had sent.

In an instant Jack’s resolution was taken, and he acted upon it at once.  The telegram was forwarded to Vichy, together with the fact that he was going immediately to Stoneleigh, where he would await any orders they chose to send.  Then he took the first train for Wales, and reached Bangor about three o’clock the next day.  All this he explained after expressing his surprise at finding Grey there, and saying to him, good-humoredly: 

“You always manage to get ahead of me.  If I ever get to heaven I do believe I shall find you there before me.”

“I hope so,” Grey answered, laughingly, and then added:  “We ought to have heard from Vichy before this time, if they received your message yesterday.”

“That’s so,” Jack replied, adding after a moment:  “It may be waiting for me at the ‘George.’  They would naturally direct it there.”