“I think,” said Ada, “that my cousin would see me, even if she is confined to her room.”
“Sir Murray give orders, mum, that they were not at home to visitors from the Hall; and, besides, my lady ain’t in.”
Ada Norton felt that it was cowardly, but it was with a sense of relief that she sank back against the cushions, and began to turn over in her mind what course she ought to pursue. She dreaded the exciting effect it might have upon her husband, if she revealed to him the words she had heard from Jane; and, trembling with an anxiety she could not drive away, she returned to the Hall, to find that Captain Norton had gone out.
“Packed a carpet bag, ma’am,” said the servant, “and then wrote a note for you, after sending for Master Brace, and kissing him.”
The note was on the table, and snatching it up, Ada Norton read as follows:—
“Dearest Ada,
“Do not think hardly of me. I could not help myself; but I know you will not judge me harshly. More when I write again; but give no information of my movements to a soul. I shall be away some time, but I have made full arrangements with Garland and Son about you. Philip.”
Abrupt, enigmatical, and strange; but it was like him. There was a vein of affection, though, running through it all. He had made arrangements for her; but the tears dimmed Ada Norton’s eyes as she stood with the letter in her hands. What could it all mean? she thought. Had it anything to do with the mining transaction? Should she drive over to Marshton the next day, and ask Messrs Garland and Son, her husband’s solicitors? No, she would not do that; it would be like prying into his affairs. She had always had faith in him, so far, and that faith should continue to the end.
She dashed away the tears heroically, little thinking how soon and how sorely she was to be tried. It was nothing new for Norton to absent himself, and she could wait patiently for his return. “Like a good wife,” she said, smilingly; and then, sitting down, she took her work, but only for it to fall into her lap, as she tried to divine what would be her best plan to adopt in connection with the strange information which had the day before been imparted to her.