But she was very weak, having been seriously ill, and here the words died away on her lips, and she fell back, buried her face in the pillow, and burst into tears. And before she could speak again reflection had come to her aid. Fred was a young man still, and might yet be a useful friend again. So she told him sadly how things stood with herself, and that she regretted it more for his sake than for her own. For she had long thought that she would have money enough to help him to educate the darling boys, and put them into good professions. Now, alas! that would never be, for she had lost every penny; she was literally a beggar!
Fred, quite touched by her kindness, told her that they were all in the same boat, and must stick together. He looked upon her just as if she were his mother. She must come out to him with Janet.
"I couldn't think of it, Fred. You have your wife and children to care for; I must work for my own bread. I shall write to Lord Beaucourt; he had a great liking for my mother, and may help me to a situation. You have mouths enough to fill without me."
And when he had left her, she said to herself, "Ay, mouths enough, and very little to put into them! A tolerably good clerk is all you are, my boy, and now you have not even an unblemished character. I should have to work all the same, and maybe for them as well as for myself. No, thank you, Mr. Fred; it is not playing the flute that will help you now, and if my lord will get me a snug place, as he offered to do when poor mother died, I don't want to have you on my hands. I think I was a fool not to take the offer then. What great good has my marriage done me? By the way, Janet has a brother somewhere, doing well, if I remember right. But no, Fred is not likely to do well after all this; I'll keep to my resolution."
Fred, of course, had to tell Janet that there was no hope of help from grandma.
"And I think you are right, dear, and that I had better get away at once. I will take just what will pay travelling expenses, and keep me for a few days. I will write and tell you where to join me. You must settle everything here, and come as soon as I send for you. I could not stand the—the disgrace, Janet. Every one will know to-morrow that I am dismissed, and Henley won't be silent."
Poor, selfish Fred! He desired nothing so much as to get away before his disgrace was known, and poor Janet, in her unselfish love, was as anxious about it as he could be. Fred had always held his head high, and whatever private discontent he felt with his situation, he had always been considered a very fortunate young man, much better off than others of his years. To meet those who had always admired and looked up to him, in his new character, as a dismissed man and a defaulting speculator, he felt would drive him mad. So, having kissed his two boys as they slept sweetly in their little beds, he bade farewell to Janet, telling her to come to Liverpool, to the Ship Hotel, Guelph Street, where he would write to her; he could not say where he would be, as that would depend upon the boats he might be in time for. And then he was gone; and poor Janet crept off to bed, cold and stunned, and almost heartbroken.
