"Don't be afraid. I shall put you to every possible use; you may be quite certain that your position will not be a sinecure."
"Then you'll make me the happiest fellow alive!"
"You don't know what you are saying; you don't know what your words mean," cried Elsie, with one of her bewildering glances.
"Indeed I do! Oh, Miss Elsie, if you only could—"
Elsie interrupted him, as her sister came out on the portico, followed by Mellen. "There is Bessie!"
Elizabeth was rejoiced to see honest Tom; he was the only relative she possessed, and she loved him like a sister. She was thoroughly acquainted with his character, and honored him for the sterling goodness concealed by eccentricities of manner which made him so open to laughter and misconception.
"I'm so glad to see you!" cried Tom, shaking hands all round again, and growing redder and redder, to Elsie's intense delight. "I've been like a fish out of water since you all came away; I just begin to feel like myself again. Bessie, old girl, are you glad to see me?"
"We shall always be glad to see you, Tom," Elizabeth said, glancing at her husband.
"Indeed we shall," he said; "you will always find a room at your service, and a sincere welcome."
No, Elizabeth never could have cared for him—the idea was simply absurd—he would never think of it again, never!