“I will take in the tree to the Hallifields,” she said; “the children will be pleased with it. And, Frithiof, don’t you think that before we leave you had better just call and thank Mr. Osmond for his help, and for having been so kind to Swanhild? He will like to know that all is cleared up.”
Frithiof agreed and set off for Guilford Square. The night was frosty, and the stars shone out bright and clear. He walked briskly through the streets, not exactly liking the prospect of his interview with the clergyman, yet anxious to get it over, and really grateful for what had been done by him.
Charles Osmond received him so kindly that his prejudices vanished at once, and he told him just how the five-pound note had affected his life, and how all had been satisfactorily explained.
“Such coincidences are very strange,” said Charles Osmond, “but it is not the first time that I have come across something of the sort. Indeed, I know of a case very similar to yours.”
“If Lady Romiaux is still with you,” said Frithiof, flushing a little, “perhaps you will tell her that all is set straight, and thank her for having released Swanhild from her promise.”
“She is still here,” said Charles Osmond, “and I will certainly tell her. I think when she gave the money to your sister she yielded to a kind impulse, not at all realizing how foolish and useless such a plan was. After all, though she has lived through so much, she is still in some ways a mere child.”
He looked at the Norwegian, wondering what lay beneath that handsome face, with its Grecian outline and northern coloring.
As if in answer to the thought, Frithiof raised his frank blue eyes, and met the searching gaze of his companion.
“Will not Lord Romiaux remember her youth?” he said. “Do you not think there is at least a hope that he will forgive her?”
Then Charles Osmond felt a strange gladness at his heart, and over his face there came a look of indescribable content, for the words revealed to him the noble nature of the man before him; he knew that not one in a thousand would have so spoken under the circumstances. The interest he had felt in this man, whose story had accidentally become known to him, changed to actual love.