The villain sighed.

“Sad time, madam,” he said, in a lugubrious tone—­“sad time. Strangers feel it.”

Margaret held down her face.

“I should have come before, madam, if propriety had not restrained me.  I have only a few hours which I can take from business, but these belong to the afflicted and the poor.”

“You are very kind, sir.”

“I beg you, Mrs Mildred, not to mention it.  It was a great shock to me to hear of Mr Mildred’s death—­a man in the prime of life.  So very good—­so much respected.”

“He was too good for this world, sir.”

“Much, madam—­very much; and what a consolation for you, that he is gone to a better—­one more deserving of him.  You will feel this more as you find your duties recalling you to active usefulness again.”

The lady shook her head despairingly.

“I hope, madam, we may be permitted to do all we can to alleviate your forlorn condition.  I am one of many who regard you with the deepest sympathy.  You may have heard my name, perhaps.”

The lady bowed.

“You must be very dull here,” exclaimed the wily Abraham, gazing round him with the internal consciousness that the death of every soul he knew would not make him dull in such a paradise—­“very dull, I am sure!”

“It was a cheerful home while he lived, sir,” answered Margaret, most ruefully.

“Ah—­yes,” sighed Abraham; “but now, too true—­too true.”

“I was thinking, Mr Allcraft”—­

“Before you name your thought, dear madam, let me explain at once the object of my visit.  I am an old man—­a father, and a widower—­but I am also” (oh, crafty Allcraft!) “a simple and an artless man.  My words are few, but they express my meaning faithfully.  There was a time when, placed in similar circumstances to your own, I would have given the world had a friend stepped forward to remove me for a season from the scene of all my misery.  I remembered this whilst dwelling on your solitariness.  Within a few miles of this place, I have a little box untenanted at present.  Let me entreat you to retire to it, if only for a week.  I place it at your command, and shall be honoured if you will accept the offer.  The house is sweetly situated—­the prospect charming; a temporary change cannot but soothe your grief.  I am a father, madam—­the father of a noble youth—­and I know what you must suffer.”

“You anticipate my wish, sir, and I am grateful for your kindness.  I was about to move many miles away; but it is advisable, perhaps, that for the present I should continue in this neighbourhood.  I will see your cottage, and, if it pleases me, you will permit me to become your tenant for a time.”

“My guest rather, dear Mrs Mildred.  The old should not be thwarted in their wishes.  Let me for the time imagine you my daughter, and act a father’s part.”