'Do tell me, mamma,' said Katie; 'do tell me all at once. Has anything—anything happened to—to Charley?'
'Oh, it is worse than that, a thousand times worse than that!' said Mrs. Woodward, who, in the agony of her own grief, became for the instant ungenerous.
Katie's blood rushed back to her heart, and for a moment her own hand relaxed the hold which she had on that of her mother. She had never spoken of her love; for her mother's sake she had been silent; for her mother's sake she had determined to suffer and be silent—now, and ever! Well; she would bear this also. It was but for a moment she relaxed her hold; and then again she tightened her fingers round her mother's hand, and held it in a firmer grasp. 'It is Alaric, then?' she said.
'God forgive me,' said Mrs. Woodward, speaking through her sobs—'God forgive me! I am a brokenhearted woman, and say I know not what. My Katie, my darling, my best of darlings—will you forgive me?'
'Oh, mamma,' said Katie, kissing her mother's hands, and her arms, and the very hem of her garment, 'oh, mamma, do not speak so. But I wish I knew what this sorrow is, so that I might share it with you; may I not be told, mamma? is it about Alaric?'
'Yes, Katie. Alaric is in trouble.'
'What trouble—is he ill?'
'No—he is not ill. It is about money.'
'Has he been arrested?' asked Katie, thinking of Charley's misfortune. 'Could not Harry get him out? Harry is so good; he would do anything, even for Alaric, when he is in trouble.'
'He will do everything for him that he can,' said Linda, through her tears.