CHAPTER XXXVII.
In less than an hour his card was brought to Bertha as she sat with her children. She read it with a beating heart, and, having done so, put down Meg and her picture-book.
"I will go down at once," she said to the servant.
In two minutes she was standing in the middle of the parlor, and her guest was holding her hand in his, and looking at her earnestly and curiously.
"You didn't expect to see me here, did you?" he said.
"No," she answered; "but you are kind to come."
"I didn't expect to be here myself," he said. "Where is your husband? Somebody told me he had gone away."
"He is in New York," she replied.