This, in connection with the suppressed excitement under which he seemed to labor and the late hour of his visit, at once convinced her that something serious had happened.
"Is there anything the matter ?" she asked in a trembling voice.
"Yes." "Is it about Lucy?
There ain't nothin' gone wrong with her, doctor dear, is there ?" "No, it is not about Lucy.

It's about Barton Holt." "Ye don't tell me! Is he come back ?" "No, nor never will.

He's dead! "That villain dead! How do you know ?" Her face paled and her lips quivered, but she gave no other sign of the shock the news had been to her.
"Captain Nat, his father, has just left my office.

I promised I would tell Miss Jane to-night.

He was too much broken up and too fearful of its effect upon her to do it himself.