“I don’t think my lady is well enough to see you to-day, sir,” said her woman.
“Tell her I must see her,” cried the boy passionately; and a few minutes after, looking very white and strange, Lady Gowan entered the room.
She looked inquiringly in the boy’s eyes, and a faint sob escaped her lips as she caught him in her arms, kissed him passionately, and then laid her head upon his shoulder, while for some minutes she sobbed so violently that the boy dared not speak, but tried to caress her into calmness once more.
“Oh, Frank, Frank!” she sighed at last; and he held her more tightly to his breast.
“I was obliged to come, mother,” he said; “and now that I have come I dare not speak.”
“Yes, speak, dear, speak; say anything to me now,” she sighed.
“But it seems so cruel, mother, while you are ill like this!”
“Speak, dear, speak. I ought to have sent to you before; but I was so heart-broken, so cowardly and weak, that I dared not confess it even to my own child.”
“Mother,” cried the boy passionately, “it is not true.”
Lady Gowan heaved a piteous sigh.