CHAPTER XL.
THE EXPOSURE—CONCLUSION.
Let us again shift the scene to Westville, and for the last time.
Mrs. Nelson had recovered from the first effects of her severe shock attending the announcement that her son was dead, but she was still very weak and sick.
"Poor Ralph! poor Ralph!" she murmured, over and over again, as she sat by, the kitchen window, while kind-hearted Mrs. Corcoran moved about doing the simple household duties. "Oh, Mrs. Corcoran, it cannot be possible, can it?"
"There, there, try to think of something else, that's a good dear!" returned the neighbor, sympathetically. "It won't do any good to brood over the matter."
"But Ralph was my only child! And his father gone, too!" and Mrs. Nelson heaved a deep sigh, while the tears streamed down her cheeks anew.
The widow's sorrow was deep, and up to now she had not allowed herself to think of aught else. She was alone in the world, so she thought, and did not care how the future shaped itself.
Presently there was a knock on the door, and Mrs. Corcoran opened it to admit Squire Paget. The head man of the village wore a look of hypocritical sympathy upon his sharp features.