'Good-night, my dear; God bless you!'
'And you, sir,' she said, kissing my hand.
I was punctual to my appointment on the following day. Blade-o'-Grass heard my step on the stairs, and came into the passage to meet me.
'Tom's inside, sir.'
I looked into her face, and saw in the anguish expressed there the marks of the conflict she had passed through.
'He's ready to go with you, sir.'
Tom Beadle's face bore marks of trouble also, and he evidently had not made up his mind whether he should receive me as a friend or an enemy.
'I feel as if I was bein' transported,' he said in a dogged manner.
'You will live to thank us, Tom,' I said, as I held out my hand to him. He hesitated a moment or two before he took it, and then he gripped it fiercely.
'Look 'ere!' he exclaimed hoarsely. 'Is it all goin' to turn out as you've told 'er? Take your oath on it! Say, May I drop down dead if it won't all come right!'