Mrs. White took the girl's hand tenderly in hers. "Forgive me, Mary dear," she said. "It is cruel of me to worry you with inquisitive questions; but I will be good now."
The little woman reproached herself bitterly for having so thoughtlessly caused the girl pain, and turned the conversation into another channel.
Throughout the day, Mary was strangely excited and changeable in her moods. One moment she was wild with delight at the prospect of seeing again her beloved chief; the next she felt sick with fear, as she thought of the confession that she had to make; for she had made up her mind to tell Catherine all—her doubts as to the righteousness of the cause; her love for Dr. Duncan; she would throw herself at her feet and make a clean breast of it.
She endeavoured to divert her thoughts by taking up any employment she could to fill up the tedious hours of this exciting day. In the afternoon, she begged Mrs. White's permission to relieve her at her usual task of bathing the youngest baby and putting him to bed before tea.
He was soon splashing and chuckling away in the bath, while Mary was assiduously sponging him, playing and laughing with him in an unusually happy mood for the time.
While she was engaged at this performance, there came a ring at the entrance bell; but she did not hear it.
Soon after she heard the voices of two people who were mounting the stairs leading to the nursery.
The door opened, and her hostess entered with a smiling and excited face.
"See whom I have brought to see you, Mary," she said.
Mary looked up and perceived, closely following Mrs. White, the tall figure of Catherine King.