She went through to Rose’s side of the house, found her, and asked where Mr. Browning was.

“He is in the library,” said Rose; “he has not yet gone out this morning.”

“Then come with me,” said Grace.  Once in the library, she said:  “I have news from my James this morning.  He cabled me from Suez.  He is coming home, and he wants us to meet him at Naples.  Mr. Jordan has been with him—­is coming with him, is ill, I fear very ill, and he wants us to meet him, I believe chiefly on that dear man’s account.  I shall leave this afternoon; can you go with me?”

“I can,” said Jack.

“I can,” said Rose.

“I am so glad,” said Grace.  “And say, there must be nothing said to the servants, except that we have run over to the continent on a lark, for a few days.  And now good-bye until we are ready.”

With that she returned to her own sitting room.  Mrs. Hazleton was gone, and it was a full half hour before she returned.  When she did, she was very pale.  A look of anxiety was on her face, but a radiant new light was in her eyes.

She came straight up to Grace, and in a low voice said:  “When do you start?”

“To-day,” said Grace; “by the first Dover train.”

“O, thanks; pray God we be not too late,” was the answer; and then the poor woman sank into a chair, covered her face with her hands, and broke into sobs that were almost hysterical.

Grace stood by her for a few minutes, then knelt down, put one arm around her, drew her toward her, gently drew down the hands and laid her cheek against the tear-dripping cheek of her friend, and said:  “Now you must be brave, dear Margaret; it’s going to be all well.  I feel it in every fibre of my being.  My husband is with him.  He will supply him with the vitality to live until the vision of your face above his pillow will bring the stimulus that he needs.”

The true woman recovered herself at length, and said:  “O Mrs. Sedgwick, how did you discover my secret, and the great-hearted man whom I have sought for and prayed for so long?”

“It was not I,” said Grace.  “It was my husband.  He lived with Mr. Jordan a year in Texas.  After he had made his little fortune in Nevada, he—­thanks be to God—­came home with Jack.  He met his old friend here, who frankly told him how he loved you, and why he had sold his home and turned wanderer.  Just then Jack had been induced by his step-father and mine, and the knave Stetson, to invest part of his fortune in a gold mine in South Africa; and by a deception, nearly all that was left of his fortune was lured away into the same channel.  Jack was well-nigh frantic.  Rose had been waiting for him for four years and a half, so my husband insisted upon their marriage and determined to go and see if anything could be made out of the wreck, and asked me to wait until his return.  I agreed, only stipulating that we, too, should be married before he went.  I left him at the church.