When she saw Emma she started.
"Oh, it releases you too," she cried; "that is happiness. I did not like to see you suffer for my sins." Then she drooped a little, then she looked up, and a burden seemed to roll away from her heart. "The rafters did not fall," she murmured, "and you, Frank, will keep all spectres away from me, won't you? He can never reach me when I am by your side."
"Never, never," was the glad reply. And Frank began to draw her gently up the street. "It is but a step," said he, "to Mr. Lothrop's; no one will ever notice that you are without a hat."
"But——"
"You are expected," he whispered. "You are never to go back into your old home again."
Again he did not know how truly he spoke.
"Emma, Emma," appealed Hermione, "shall I do this thing, without any preparation, any thought, anything but my love and gratitude to make it a true bridal?"
"Ah, Hermione, in making yourself happy, you make me so; therefore I am but a poor adviser."
"What, will you be married too, to-night, at the minister's house with me?"
"No, dear, but soon, very soon, as soon as you can give me a home to be married in."