She found that Leo had followed her directions, and the small breakfast parlor, that occupied an angle of the house and had windows opening to the east and south, was prepared for the morning meal.
And the doors of all the disordered rooms were closed.
She went out and gathered a bouquet of early spring flowers and put them in a vase and placed them on the breakfast table.
And then she plucked a few young buds of mint and made an exquisite julep, and sent it up by Leo to her uncle’s room.
Jacob, who had been sent at sunrise to the post-office, now returned. And Drusilla opened the mail-bag, which was found to contain nothing but newspapers, which she folded and laid by the side of her uncle’s plate.
And then she sat down to await his coming.
He came at last, smiling on her as he entered, and took his seat at the table.
“You are the angel of the house, my child,” he said—“the angel of the house! What should I do now but for you!”
“Dear uncle, what should I do without you? What should I have done that dreadful night but for your sustaining arm? All my puny efforts to serve you can never cancel that debt. I shall never forget that night,” earnestly answered Drusilla.
“I shall never forget that night, Drusilla, for it was then I received—‘an angel unawares.’”