"What you have come to talk to me about?"—Helena,
steadying herself, repeated the words almost composedly.
"Oh, yes," said Mrs. Thornton, an eagerness in her voice again. "But—may we come in? Is it—"
"All may come in here," Helena answered softly, "and"—her eyes met Thornton's fixed gaze and dropped quickly—"please come in," she ended abruptly.
—XIII—
REAL MONEY
The two women passed inside the cottage, Mrs. Thornton holding out her hand again to the little lad; while Holmes and his wife followed hesitantly, awed. In the rear, Thornton grasped Madison's arm suddenly.
"I never saw such a beautiful face," he whispered tensely. "It's wonderful."
"Yes," assented Madison. "But everything here seems full of a rare, strange beauty, a hallowed something—it lifts one beyond material things. You feel it—a great, calm solemnity all about you."