"Send for him," she said quite suddenly; "send for him now."
There was an eagerness expressed in the dark thinness of her face which moved Emily.
"It is dear of you to care so much, Hester," she said. "I didn't know you thought it mattered."
"He must come," said Hester. "That's all. Send for him."
"I wrote a letter yesterday," was Lady Walderhurst's meek rejoinder. "I got nervous."
"So did I get nervous," said Hester; "so did I."
That she was disturbed Emily could see. The little laugh she ended her words with had an excited ring in it.
During the Osborns' stay at Palstrey the two women had naturally seen a good deal of each other, but for the next two days they were scarcely separated at all. Emily, feeling merely cheered and supported by the fact that Hester made herself so excellent a companion, was not aware of two or three things. One was that Mrs. Osborn did not lose sight of her unless at such times as she was in the hands of Jane Cupp.
"I may as well make a clean breast of it," the young woman said. "I have a sense of responsibility about you that I haven't liked to speak of before. It's half hysterical, I suppose, but it has got the better of me."
"You feel responsible for me!" exclaimed Emily, with wondering eyes.