“Then Heaven bless him!” cried Lady Gowan, passionately. “I had my doubts as to whether it would be wise to bear his message to your father, but I am contented now. Leave me, my dearest boy. I want strength to bear the interview this afternoon, and the doctor told me that, unless I rested till the last moment, I should not have enough to carry me through. But you will be here?”
“I will be here,” he said tenderly; and once more they parted, Frank going across to Captain Murray, and telling him of his mother’s visit.
“It is too much for her to bear,” he said sadly. “Surely she has not the strength!”
“You don’t know my mother’s determination,” said the boy proudly. “Oh yes, she will go.”
“Heaven give her the fortitude to bear the shock!” muttered the captain. “Can I do anything—see her there?” he asked.
“No, no,” said Frank hastily. “She must go alone. The carriage will take her and wait. But you; how is the side?”
“Oh, I have no time to think about a little pain, my boy. Frank, we are all trying what we can do by a petition to his Majesty. The colonel will present it when it is ready. He must—he shall show mercy this time; so cheer up, boy. No man in the army has so many friends as your father, and the King will see this by the names attached to our prayer.”
But these words gave little encouragement, and Frank felt that in his heart he had more faith in some bold attempt made by his father’s friends. He thought, moreover, from Drew’s manner, that there must be something more in progress than he divined, and going back to his duties—which he did or left undone without question now—he waited impatiently for the afternoon.
But never had the hours dragged along so slowly, and it seemed a complete day when, at a few minutes before two, he went round to his mother’s apartments, and found one of the private carriages with the servants in plain liveries waiting at the door.
On ascending to his mother’s room, he found her seated there, dressed almost wholly in black, and with a thick veil held in her hand. She was very pale and stern; but her face lit up as the boy crossed to her, and took her cold, damp hands in his.