Her girlhood had been so happy.

Then came the day of the Black Shadow, but in her blackest hour she had not felt alone.

She had supposed she was leaning on John Gilman as securely as she had leaned on her father.

She had learned, with the loss of her father, that one cannot be sure of anything in this world least of all of human life.

Yet in her darkest days she had depended on John Gilman.