They did not speak again until Charlotte had given a final shake to the bed in the corner, upon which her bonnet and shawl had been lying. She put them on neatly and primly; and when she was ready to go she spoke again in a constrained and mysterious manner.
"Heard nothing of Susan, I suppose?" she said.
"Not a word," answered old Oliver, sadly. "It's the only trouble I've got. That were the last passion I ever went into, and I was hot and hasty, I know."
"So you always used to be at times," said his sister.
"Ah! but that passion was the worst of all," he went on, speaking slowly. "I told her if she married young Raleigh, she should never darken my doors again—never again. And she took me at my word though she might have known it was nothing but father's hot temper. Darken my doors! Why, the brightest sunshine I could have 'ud be to see her come smiling into my shop, like she used to do at home."
"Well, I think Susan ought to have humbled herself," said Charlotte. "It's going on for six years now, and she's had time enough to see her folly. Do you know where she is?"
"I know nothing about her," he answered, shaking his head sorrowfully. "Young Raleigh was wild, very wild, and that was my objection to him; but I didn't mean Susan to take me at my word. I shouldn't speak so hasty and hot now."
"And to think. I'd helped to bring her up so genteel, and with such pretty manners!" cried the old woman, indignantly. "She might have done so much better with her cleverness too. Such a milliner as she might have turned out! Well good-bye, brother James, and don't go having any more of those visions; they're not wholesome for you."
"I should be very lonesome without them," answered Oliver. "Good-bye,
Charlotte, good-bye, and God bless you. Come again as soon as you can."
He went with her to the door, and stayed to watch her along the quiet alley, till she turned into the street. Then, with a last nod to the back of her bonnet, as she passed out of his sight, he returned slowly into his dark shop, put up the flap of the counter, and retreated to the darker room within. Hot as it was, he fancied it was growing a little chilly with the coming of the night, and he drew on his old coat, and threw a handkerchief over his white head, and then sat down in the dusk, looking out into his shop and the alley beyond it. He must have fallen into a doze after a while, being overcome with the heat, and lulled by the constant hum of the streets, which reached his dull ear in a softened murmur; for at length he started up almost in a fright, and found that complete darkness had fallen upon him suddenly, as it seemed to him. A church clock was striking nine, and his shop was not closed yet. He went out hurriedly to put the shutters up.