"I am going to ask them to let me take you with me to Lynn."
"Oh, Cousin Becky, after—after all you know about me?"
"Yes; because I believe you're going to turn over a new leaf and try to walk a straight path in the future—because I'm going to trust you," said Cousin Becky as she tucked the bed-clothes around him. She bent over him and kissed him affectionately; but he made no reply, he was too deeply touched. Then she withdrew to the window, where she stood looking thoughtfully out into the sunlit garden until she heard by the patient's regular breathing that he had fallen asleep.
That evening Miss Trent told Mr. and Mrs. Marsh the true story of the loss of the Calais Noble. It was a blow to both of them to learn how their son had behaved; but it came less as a surprise to Mrs. Marsh than to her husband, who reproached himself bitterly for his suspicion of Roger. Needless to say, Edgar was forgiven; but his parents were deeply grieved and mortified that he should have acted so deceptively and allowed his cousin to be blamed in his stead, and Mrs. Marsh was troubled by the remembrance of her last visit to Princess Street, when, in her surprise at hearing the Calais Noble had been found, she had spoken as though Roger was the culprit who had taken the coin.
At first Mr. Marsh absolutely refused his permission for Edgar to accompany Miss Trent to Norfolk when the project was broached to him. He thought, under the circumstances, that it would be pleasanter for his cousins to be without him, he said. However, Cousin Becky begged him to reconsider the matter and to let the boy go with her as a favour to herself, and, reflecting that they were under a great obligation to her, he felt he must give in to her wish.
"It shall be as you please," he said at length; "you have been very kind to us, and it is exceedingly good of you to burden yourself with the charge of our wayward boy. We are deeply indebted to you, indeed."
"You were in trouble and wanted me," said Cousin Becky simply. "I am very glad to have been of use."
The colour deepened in Mrs. Marsh's cheeks as, at that moment, she met the old lady's glance, for she could not help remembering that she had declined to have Cousin Becky beneath her roof as a guest only a few months ago, and she felt suddenly abashed. Perhaps memory was busy, with Cousin Becky, too; if so, her countenance did not show it, and there was nothing but kindness and goodwill in the expression of her bright, dark eyes, though there lurked a slight gleam of humour in their tranquil depths.