Dr Fellows answered her in a tone of portentous gravity,—
‘Yes, Liz, though not in the way you imagine. Set your mind at rest concerning Maraquita. There is nothing to be alarmed at about her. But you must execute a commission at once for me. You must carry this basket to Mammy Lila on the Shanty Hill.’
Liz glanced at the large basket which her father carried in his hand, with astonishment.
‘I am to go to the Shanty Hill to-night, father? Do you know that it is five miles away, and it is just two o’clock? Cannot it wait until the morning?’
‘If it could have waited till the morning I should not have told you to take it now,’ replied the Doctor sternly. ‘Have you already forgotten your own acknowledgment that we owe (if necessary) our very lives to Edward Courtney.’
‘But what has this to do with Mr Courtney?’
‘Ask no questions, but do as I bid you. If any one else could do the work as well as yourself, I should not trouble you, Liz. But I can trust no one but you. Carry the basket to Mammy Lila’s hut, and leave it there. Tell her it comes from me, and my message to her is “Silence and secrecy.”’
‘I will go,’ said Lizzie shortly, as she took the basket from her father’s hand.
‘Go by the path that skirts the outer plantation, and cross the ravine by Dorrian’s glen; it is the shorter way,’ continued Dr Fellows; and then suddenly twisting his daughter round so as to look into her face, he asked her,—‘Have you any fear? It is dangerous traversing these roads by night, and alone. There may be snakes across the path, or panthers lurking in the thickets. Are you sure you are not afraid?’
The contemptuous curl of Liz’s lip showed him the futility of the question.