“The letter told her, in effect, that Alfred Whyte, when he left her that morning, had started to go to England in the only way by which he could get there—­that is, by working his passage as a deck hand on board an outward bound ship; that he had decided on this course so as to get a personal interview with his father, to whom he would go as a penitent prodigal son; for he was sure of obtaining by this means forgiveness, and assistance that would enable him to return and bring his little wife back to England, where they would thenceforth live in comfort and luxury; that the reason he had not confided to her his intention of making the voyage was because he dreaded opposition from her that might have led him to abandon the one plan by which he hoped to better their condition.

“He concluded by entreating her not to think for one instant that he intended to desert her, who was dearer to him than his own life, but to trust in him as he trusted in her.  In a postscript he told her where to find the small balance of money they had left, as he had only taken enough for his car fare to the city.  In a second postscript he promised to write by every opportunity.  In a third and last postscript he begged her to keep up her heart.

“It seemed a frank letter, yet it was reticent upon one point—­the name of the ship on which he had sailed.  This omission might have been accidental.  It certainly did not raise any doubt of the boy’s good faith in the mind of the girl.

“She cried a great deal over the separation from her lad, and she made a confidant of the elderly Irishwoman who was her sole servant.

“After two weeks, Ann began to watch daily for the letter carrier, in hope of getting a letter from Alfred; but day after day, week after week, passed and none came.  But there came news of the wreck of the Porpoise, which had sailed from New York for London on the very day that Alfred Whyte had left the country—­and which had gone down in a storm in mid-ocean with all on board.

“But as numerous ships had left New York on that day bound for various British ports, it was impossible to discover whether the boy was on board, or if he shipped under his own name or an assumed one.

“Ann cried more than ever for a few days, but then seemed to give up her lad for lost, and to resign herself to the ‘inevitable.’

“She wrote to Mr. Alfred Whyte, Senior, but got no reply to her letter; again and again she wrote with no better success.  The little balance of money left by her boy-husband was all gone.  She began to sell off the trifles of jewelry that he had given her.

“One morning the letter carrier left a letter with a London postmark containing a bill of exchange for a hundred pounds, and not one word besides.

“Had it come from her boy-husband, or from his father?  She could not tell.

“Well, to be brief, she never saw nor heard of him again.  She lived comfortably with her motherly old servant, enjoyed life thoroughly and grew more beautiful every day, and this fool’s paradise lasted as long as her money did.  Before her last dollar was gone, she saw the advertisement in the Pursuivant for a nursery governess, and answered it, as has been told.