After long years Cecil met this girl, who had been faithful to the memory of her Crimean hero.  Once she spoke of him to Mrs. Fane, mentioning the circumstance of the omission of the lock when Du Meresq’s letter had conveyed to her the fatal news.  Little did she think how her companion had guarded and hated this souvenir.  Cecil glanced sharply at the other’s hair, harsher and more wiry now, and intersected with silvery threads, still it was like enough to satisfy her of the identity without the confirmatory cry of surprise with which the poor woman received it from her hands.  Had she known this earlier, I think Cecil would have clung to her ideal, and never married, but by this time Fane and herself were—­well as happy together as other people.  Time’s “effacing finger” had prepared the way, and since the birth of her only son, Cecil’s heart was vitalized by a second passion, as strong though different to the first.  So we may leave her, and see how our other heroine ultimately fares before dropping the curtain.

Dutton went to sea once again, but, as his ship was only cruising in the Mediterranean, Bluebell was able to meet him at the different ports they stopped at, and did not at all dislike the changeful variety of the life.  However, Lord Bromley found he could not do without her, so, after that one cruise, Harry retired from the navy, and they lived chiefly at “The Towers,” where a numerous family was born.

At last Lord Bromley died at a great age, and it was found that he had left Bromley Towers to their eldest boy, Theodore.  To the Duttons was bequeathed a small estate worth three thousand a year.  So after all Harry never inherited “The Towers,” nor Bluebell either.

THE END