“O Meg,” she cried joyfully. “Can you speak again?”
“Ay, my dear, my head feels clearer now. But what have you heard?”
“Nothing, Meg, nothing at all.”
“Tut, tut, do you think it will worry the life out of me? Tell me what it is you have heard?”
“No, no, I must not.”
“Miriam,” cried the old woman, “I’ve loved you all my life, never ask why. There is something on my mind now. I shall die easy if you will tell me what you have heard.”
“O Meg, how can I? Such tales of my father.”
“What are they? I’ve got but a few minutes left to give you comfort in. Tell me, my lass, what you have heard that troubles you.”
I had already had experience of Meg’s devotion to one idea. I thought that now the disclosure would come and that it was time for me to step in and prevent it. Yet I stood immovable as a statue on the outside, against my will.
“I have heard that he was to blame for your illness, and that——”