Without a word Mary Crawford threw herself into Joe Harris's arms, then slid slowly to her knees, holding her arms still around the stranger of only a few hours before, now dearer and more precious to her than any sister could ever have been. At length she recovered herself sufficiently to thrust one hand into the bosom of her dress, take out the note, and hold it out to Joe, with the pleading words:
"Read! read! do read and tell me what he has done!"
"Why, you dear girl, how agitated you are!" said Josephine, stooping down and kissing her on the forehead. "This letter for me, and from him? Stop—answer me one question—has he gone?"
"He has gone!" spoke the young girl, almost with, a gasp.
A veritable cry of joy escaped Joe Harris. Often defeated and not seldom misunderstood, she knew then that she had succeeded in the boldest and most erratic act of her life; and that moment of triumph was worth years of ordinary existence.
"He has gone! you are saved! Don't cry or tremble, pet, for it is all right—I know it! See here!" and she tore open the note with such an expression of gladness as some heroine of old may have vented when she rushed in with her father's or her husband's pardon, at the very moment when the axe was depending above his head.
Josephine Harris's eyes had run rapidly over the brief note. She extended it to Mary:
"See! it is as I told you!"
Mary Crawford clutched the note in her hand, staggered to her feet, and attempted to read. But she only saw a few words—heart and brain had been overtasked—and with a low moaning cry she sunk fainting into the arms of Josephine.
The hurrying feet of little Susy responsive to Joe's sudden call—the glass of cool water from the well that in a moment touched Mary Crawford's lips and sparkled on her forehead—these were the things of a moment. That which had a memory in it, worthy to endure for all time, was the return of recollection to the young girl, and the fervency with which she threw herself again into Josephine's arms, embracing her almost painfully, and saying, over and over again: