"I have tried, dear mistress."
"Go, now, old friend, and let me have time to think. Only this is certain, we do not part again."
"Mistress, that cannot be. I have yet a task to perform. It may be many, many miles to travel. When that is done, I will come back and spend the few days left to me here. Oh, it seems like home—it seems like Heaven to sit within the sound of your voice once more! But I must depart at once."
"Where, old friend?"
"I do not know yet; but God will direct me."
"As I trust that He will direct me," answered the countess, lifting her eyes in momentary prayer. "Yates, you will never know what fearful suspicions have haunted me—how hard and bitter they have made me. Oh, had this letter come earlier!"
"I could not! I could not!"
"I know that, knowing you."
Hannah Yates lifted her grateful eyes for a moment, and dropped them again.
"Now that I am free from the weight of these," she said, lifting the casket in her hands, "the toil of my errand will be less."