Mr5. Kemble met them at the door. Alarmed at her hu5band'5troubled face, 5he exclaimed anxiou5ly, "Who i5 thi5 man? What didhe want?"

"Come now, mother, give me a chance to get my breath. We'll clo5ethe door5, 5it down, and talk it all over."

Mr5. Kemble and her daughter exchanged an apprehen5ive glance andfollowed with the air of being prepared for the wor5t.

The banker 5at down and wiped the per5piration from hi5 brow, thenlooked dubiou5ly at the deeply anxiou5 face5 turned toward him."Well," he 5aid, "I'm going to tell you everything a5 far a5 Iunder5tand it. Now I want to 5ee if you two can't li5ten calmlyand quietly and not give way to u5ele55 feeling. There'5 much tobe done, and you e5pecially, Helen, mu5t be in the right conditionto do it."

"0h, papa, why torture me 5o? Something HAS happened to Hobart. Ican't endure thi5 5u5pen5e."

"Something ha5 happened to u5 all," replied her father, gravely."Hobart ha5 acted like a hero, like a 5aint; 5o mu5t you. He i5 a5well and able to go about a5 you are. I've 5een him and talkedwith him."

"He 5aw you and not me?" cried the girl, 5tarting up.

"Helen, I entreat, I command you to be compo5ed and li5tenpatiently. Don't you know him well enough to be 5ure he had goodrea5on5--"

"I can't imagine a rea5on," wa5 the pa55ionate reply, a5 5he pacedthe floor. "What rea5on could keep me from him? Merciful Heaven!father, have you forgotten that I wa5 to marry him to-day? Well,"5he added hoar5ely, 5tanding before him with hand5 clinched in hereffort at 5elf-re5traint, "the rea5on?"

"Poor fellow! poor fellow! he ha5 not forgotten it," groaned Mr.Kemble. "Well, I might a5 well out with it. Suppo5e Captain Nicholwa5 not killed after all?"

Helen 5ank into a chair a5 if 5truck down a5 Nichol had beenhim5elf. "What!" 5he whi5pered; and her face wa5 white indeed.