The old lady assented. "I am sorry to have to leave it in so insecure a place," she said, "for the frame is old; but I suffer from vertigo, and dare not mount a step-ladder. A few weeks ago I was obliged to dismiss my servant,"—a faint flush tinged her withered cheek,—"and now I must wait until the charwoman comes to hang these last pictures, and the curtains to my bed."
At the first words of this explanation, Kitty had laid her parasol upon the writing-table and stuck her little bouquet of willow buds and hepatica into a pretty little milk-white vase that stood beside the inkstand. Then she pulled the table out into the room, and moved a chair up to the wall. "May I?" she asked, coaxingly, picking up the hammer and nails that were placed ready on the window-seat.
With a grateful smile the aunt brought her the portrait, and in a few moments it was hung upon the wall. Kitty shrank back involuntarily when the old lady then handed her Flora's photograph. Should she with her own hand place this picture where it would constantly meet the eyes of the betrayed lover? It was no longer his, it would in a few short days be reclaimed, with the ring which he still wore on his finger. How the thought pained her! The old lady passed her hand caressingly over the picture. "She is so lovely!" she said, tenderly. "I know her only slightly; she does not come often to see me; how could an old woman ask her to undertake so tiresome a task? but I am very fond of her, for she loves him, and will make him happy."
What an inconceivable absence of all misgiving! The girl's cheeks burned with a sense of her own imprudence. After all she had heard in the tower, she never should have set foot within these doors. She felt like a hypocrite for not snatching the picture from the old lady's hand and unmasking the serpent that was ready to dart at her heart. But she could say nothing. She hammered at the nail so vigorously that the wall shook, then she hung the photograph upon it, and pushed the writing-table into its former place. The seductive face of her sister looked down from the wall with the smile of a triumphant evil genius.
Kitty took up her parasol to leave the room as quickly as possible. As she crossed the threshold she saw through an open door the old lady's bed,—the step-ladder stood beside it. "I almost forgot that," she said, as if in excuse, as she entered the small apartment, and, taking the gay chintz curtains from where they lay ready, mounted the ladder. She stood so high in the dark recess beside the window that she could touch the projecting foot of one of the angels in the cornice, and began rapidly to slip the curtain-rings upon their brass rods, while the old lady, standing by the table in the middle of the adjoining sitting-room, mixed a glass of raspberry syrup for her kind assistant.
Suddenly Kitty saw a man of erect, stately carriage pass the window. She recognized him instantly, and started, but before she could determine whether it was best to stay where she was or to slip hastily down and away, he had come through the hall and entered his aunt's room. The old lady turned, and threw her arms around him with, "Ah, Leo, here you are already!" The raspberry syrup was entirely forgotten, as well as the kind assistant for whom it had been intended, and who was covered with confusion in her hiding-place behind the curtains, where she was now obliged to stay, if she would not break in upon the meeting of aunt and nephew.
She saw the doctor's handsome bearded face bend tenderly above the old lady's head as he drew her towards him and, taking her hand from his shoulder, kissed it reverentially Then he glanced through the rooms.
"Well, Leo, what do you say to my coming out here without your knowledge?" his aunt said, noticing his glance.
"I cannot praise that proceeding. It was too much for you to undertake in so short a time, for you know how injurious all household confusion and worry are for you. Nevertheless, you look well and happy."
"I wish you did too, Leo," his aunt interrupted him; "you have lost the fine colour you used to have, and here"—she lightly passed her hand over his forehead—"there is something strange, something of pain and perplexity. Have you been annoyed during your absence?"