Arthurs Story

He professed to think I saved his life, and was profuse in his
protestations of gratitude. He was very impulsive and conceived
for me a friendship which ended only with his death. At all events
he proved as much by the great trust eventually reposed in me,"
and he nodded toward Nina, who having tired of the buttons and the
chain, was busy now with the bunch of keys she had purloined from
his pocket.

"I was in delicate health," said Arthur, "and as the cold weather
was coming on, he insisted upon taking me home with him, and I
accordingly accompanied him to Florida--to Sunny-bank, his country
seat. It was a grand old place, shaded by magnolias and surrounded
by a profusion of vines and flowering shrubs, but the most
beautiful flower of all was NINA, then eleven years age."

Nina knew that he was praising her--that Edith sanctioned the
praise, and with the same feeling the little child experiences
when told that it is good, she smiled upon Arthur, who, smoothing
her round white check, went on: "My sweet Florida rose, I called her, and many a romping frolic we
had together during the winter months, and many a serious talk,
too, we had of her second mother; her own she did not remember,
and of her sister Miggie whose grave we often visited, strewing it
with flowers and watering it with tears, for Nina's attention for
her lost sister was so touching that I often wept with her over
Miggie's grave."