"Oh, I wish people would not say things like this to me!" cried Janet, unconscious that no one had said anything to her about her husband except Mrs. Rayburn and her own anxious, loving heart.
Mrs. Lydia Rayburn little thought when she penned that letter, so full of patronizing kindness, what the effect of her words would be; for simpleminded Janet believed that she meant every word most sincerely.
She sent the letter on to Fred, and said to the two children, "How fond grandma is of you both, boys!"
To which Frank replied thoughtfully, "Is she, muddie?"
Soon after this Fred failed to write for some weeks, and Janet was getting seriously uneasy, when she received a letter from her brother; not one of his usual brief epistles, but a long, closely written letter with a money order enclosed.
"Old Man's Ferry Farm, Gattigo, British Columbia.
"MY DEAR SISTER,
"I do not know whether what I must now tell you will be a surprise and a shock to you or not. Of course, I could see that you were not speaking out quite frankly about your husband and the loss of his good place; not that I am blaming you, for he is your husband, and you are bound to stick to him. You wrote me word that he was on his way to me, and I laid out my plans for giving him and you a start here if I could. But he did not turn up, and only ten days ago I got a letter from a lawyer in New Durham—a rising new town a good way from us—enclosing a letter from Rayburn.
"Not to make too long a story of it, your husband told me that he had been on his way to me, five months ago, when at New Durham, he fell in with an old friend, and went into some kind of business with him, putting all the money he possessed into it. They seemed prosperous for a time, and Rayburn declares that he did not know that the articles they were selling were regular cheap locks and stoves and such things, with good English names on them, which this fellow Turner had got made out here, and not even of good materials. Of course, this could only go on for a time—people here are no fools—and Turner must have found out that he was suspected, for he made off with all he could get hold of, and left Rayburn to bear the consequences. Rayburn had a narrow escape of being roughly handled by a lot of fellows who had come to the town together to have it out with Turner. In these half-settled places people have a very short kind of justice, but he got away out of the shop with a whole skin, and was taken up for the cheating. Then he told the lawyer that he was my brother-in-law, and that I could speak for him, and so they sent for me. I went, of course, and found him very ill, I really think from fretting, for there is no doubt that he was badly treated by Turner.
"They have not caught Turner, and now they will hardly do so; and I think Rayburn will get off for want of evidence against him. I would get him out on bail, but that he is so ill, that it is better for him to keep quiet. When he is free, I shall take him home with me, and Aimée will nurse him till he is all right again. And, if I find it possible, I may still do what I was thinking of—start an hotel in Gattigo to be supplied from my farm, and you and Rayburn to manage it. If he had come direct to me, all would be easy. Now I fear it may be a feeling against him, and in that case it would be risking money in setting up the hotel, and it is a great pity, for he is the very man for the place; he has such a pleasant manner. But there is no use in crying over spilt milk. I wish he was not your husband, for, truth to say, I do not like this business, though I cannot help liking him. And I will do what I can for your husband.
"Now, Janet, the fact is, if you have as much good sense and good principle as I believe you to have, you ought to come out by the next boat, and join Rayburn, and not part with him again. In some way we will find an opening for him, and with you beside him, and me at your back—particularly now you are on your guard—he may yet do very well. He is feather-headed, easily taken with anything new, and impatient of slow gains. Rayburn says you are to send the boys to their grandmother, who is sure to take good care of them, being very fond of them. He desired me to say that on no account are you to bring them with you, if Mrs. Rayburn will take them for a while, as he is very anxious that they should never hear of his being in prison here. I think myself that it would be better for you to come alone, and we will get them out as soon as we know what you and Rayburn will do; but there may be no use in your settling here, and it will be better to get them to the place you finally decide upon, direct.
"I enclose money for your journey, and, on the other side of this sheet, I will put down your exact best way, and all particulars I can think of. Do not lose a boat, and come direct to Gattigo. Rayburn will probably be here before you. The hotel plan, if still possible, would be the best for him and for you; but, unless you are here, I will not risk it. Besides, having you with him will make him seem more dependable and respectable, and, you see, he has made a bad start, and has a prejudice to get over. Do not think me unkind, though I know I may seem so, because I am not used to much letter-writing, and do not know how to wrap things up.
"My wife is just longing for you to come; there is not a woman she cares about within many miles of us.
"Your affectionate brother,
"GILBERT GRAY."
Then followed the directions for her journey, which were so clear and minute that a child could have followed them.
A year ago the idea of such a long lonely journey would have reduced Janet to tears and misery; but she had learned to know her strength, and it was not her own part in the matter that frightened her. Nor was it the leaving the boys at Kelmersdale, for she had no doubt of their well-being there, and had been thinking of asking grandma to take them for a fortnight or so, as Frank would be the better for a change of air. She had a brave heart and a childlike faith, and thought but little of herself; but oh, what bitter tears she shed over that letter! But she lost no time; in half an hour after the letter came, she was in the office of the line of boats Gilbert had named, inquiring when the next left Liverpool.
