It required all his efforts to soothe the excited girl. He longed to question her, to know if she had left Elizabeth much alone during his absence, to understand how she could have been so persistently deceived, but she was in no state to endure such inquiries then.
Elsie lay back among her pillows, refusing to be comforted:
"If you want to cure me send for Bessie—my dear, dear Bessie! Search for her—send the people out!"
"Elsie, she has gone with that man; I cannot follow her there."
"No, no; she is wandering about in the cold. Go, search for her!"
"Anything but that, Elsie—ask anything else in the world."
"I don't want anything else."
"As soon as you are better we will go away from here," he continued; "to Europe, if you like."
"But how will she live?" persisted Elsie. "What will become of her? No money—no friends. Oh, Bessie, Bessie!"
"She has plenty to live on," he replied. "There are stocks enough deposited in her name to give her a comfortable income."