"Oh, thank you; how good you are!" cried the poor woman, bursting into tears in her sudden sense of relief from anxiety. "I cannot thank you as I should; but God will bless you for your goodness to the stranger."
"No thanks are needed," he returned hastily; and without saying more, he quitted the room, for the sight of the dying woman's emotion affected him painfully. Beryl slipped after her father. Though he had lowered his voice in speaking to Mrs. Despard, she had heard enough to enable her to guess what it was that he had said which gave Coral's mother such comfort.
"Oh, papa!" she cried, as she hastened after him, "How good you are! Thank you so much for saying that Coral may stay with us. You cannot think how glad I am."
"Not so fast, little woman," he said, smiling fondly on her; "you are taking things too much for granted. It is by no means certain that Coral will remain here. If we find her uncle, he will probably take charge of her."
"Then I hope he will not be found," said Beryl. "I want to keep Coral."
"Now, I wonder if I have done a very foolish thing," said Mr. Hollys to himself as he walked away. "I fancy most people would say that I have. Well, I have committed myself now, and must take the consequences."
But as yet he appeared to have little dread of unpleasant results, and his face did not wear the look of a man who regretted an act of folly.
[CHAPTER VI]
A TALK ABOUT THE KINGDOM
IN the afternoon, when Mrs. Despard was sleeping, Lucy took the children for a walk. They went through part of the village, and then ascended a steep hill, which led them to a narrow winding path high above the waves, and commanding a splendid prospect of sea and sky. Ferns and mosses grew plenteously on the landward side of this path, but its outer edge overhung the cliff, and was unguarded, so Lucy held little Coral's hand, lest the child should unwarily venture too near the dangerous brink. The path led to some barren fields shelving down to the beach. Near the gate of the first field a stone bench had been erected, which seemed to invite the passer-by to halt and admire the grand sea-view spread before it.