He looked at her inquisitively. “Well,” bending over closer to her, “what is it, little sister?”
The girl looked out over the dripping shrubs and the soft snow. But her thought was not there. She saw a man, a priest, she knew not where, but delving, plodding, digging for the truth which the human mind has buried under centuries and centuries of material débris. She saw him, patiently bearing his man-made burden, striving to shield a tender, abandoned girl, and to transfer to her his own great worldly knowledge, but without its dross. She saw the mighty sacrifice, when the man tore her from himself, and thrust her out beyond 126 the awful danger in which he dwelt. She understood now. The years had taught her much. It was love––aye, the love that alone makes men great, the love that lays down human life in self-immolating service.
She turned to the waiting lad. “You will write it, Sidney? I will tell you the whole beautiful story. It is an illustration of the way love works through human channels. And perhaps––perhaps, some day, the book may reach him––yes, some day. And it will tell him––oh, Sidney, it will tell him that I know, and that I love him, love him, love him!”
In the office of the manager of the Express three heads were close together that morning, and three faces bore outward evidence of the serious thought within.
“Miss Wall tells me, Ned,” Hitt was saying, “that her father used to be associated with Ames, and that, at his demise, he left his estate, badly entangled, for Ames to settle. Now it transpires that Ames has been cunning enough to permit Miss Wall to draw upon his bank almost without limit, he making up any deficit with his own personal notes.”
“Ah!” commented Haynerd. “I think I see the shadow of his fine hand!”
“And now,” resumed Hitt, “she is given to understand that Ames has been obliged by the bank examiner to withdraw his personal notes as security for her deficits, and that the revenue from her estate must be allowed to accrue to the benefit of the Ames bank until such time as all obligations are met.”
“Beautiful!” ejaculated Haynerd. “In other words, Elizabeth is simply cut off!”
“Just so. And now, another thing: Madam Beaubien’s lawyer called on her to-day, and informed her that Hood had gone into court and secured an injunction, tying up all revenue from her estate until it can be unraveled. That cuts off her income, likewise.”