“Dear little sister!” Rhoda would say to herself with an indulgent smile as she read these admonitions. “She’s such a child, and she’s so positive she knows all about it! I wonder if she’ll ever really grow up!”
But her mother’s letters gave her much concern. Her arrest and imprisonment had caused Mrs. Ware severe shock and deep grief and her heart was wrung that the necessity was upon her to cause so much suffering.
“I must do whatever I can,” she moaned. “It’s on my conscience and I must, and I can’t be sorry I did this, dear, dear mother, even for your sake. I couldn’t live if I didn’t do my best to fight this awful evil!”
Evidently, too, Mrs. Ware was not well. The physical ailments that had interfered with her enjoyment of her visit to Fairmount had grown worse since her return. Notwithstanding all this the mother heart of her yearned over and wished to be with her first-born. But to this desire Rhoda gave constant denial, lest her burden of grief and pain be made harder to bear.
Dr. Ware came to see his daughter as often as his practice would allow, but his visits were necessarily brief and infrequent. He spoke occasionally of Charlotte’s engagement and Rhoda thought he seemed pleased with it.
“It’s a very good thing, I guess,” he said one day, with a cheerfulness that gave Rhoda a little twinge of unhappiness.
“But he always has loved Charlotte so much,” she thought, “and wanted her to have everything she wanted that he’d be glad to have her happy no matter if—”
“She’ll be in harmony with her surroundings and he seems to be very much in love with her,” Dr. Ware went on. Rhoda turned quickly away lest he see the little spasm of pain that she felt sure was showing itself upon her countenance.
“Your mother, of course, is deeply pleased,” he continued. “I don’t know but it is giving her almost as much pleasure as your marriage would have done. It will be a good thing for Charlotte to be married happily and settled down. She’ll come out all right. I never have had any doubts about her, in the long run, because she’s so much like what her mother was at her age.”
Horace Hardaker came often to consult with Rhoda in the preparation of her case. He hoped to make a telling presentment and was enthusiastic over the excitement that already had been aroused.