“But,” he said, “how can I, loving her as I do, and must—how can I see her here day after day, and refrain from pushing a suit which, under the circumstances, would be almost an insult to her? I cannot do it. I will go away. Father has been anxious for me to establish a branch of our business in California, and I will do it. Perhaps absence, and the excitement and novelty of travel, will help me to bear my disappointment better, if it does not heal the wound inflicted so unwillingly by the noblest hand on earth.”
For two hours or more he remained there in his office, laying his plans and thinking what to do, and trying to so tone down his feelings as not to pain her when he went out, by a look of sorrow; and he had regained entire command of himself when there came a hasty knock on his office door.
He opened it to receive Frank and Lizzie Legare, who stood there smiling, and who entered his office when he as cheerfully saluted and asked them in.
CHAPTER XXVII.
AUNT LOUISA.
“We have come after Miss Hattie Butler, Mr. W——,” said Lizzie, after shaking hands with him.
“Our dear Aunt Louisa is ever so much better to-day, and her first wish this morning was to see her. But the doctor thought she had better wait until afternoon, until she grew stronger, and so we waited till after lunch, and then we had to come. Our aunt would give us no rest.”
“That’s so. Do you know, Mr. W——, though she has not positively said so in so many words, I believe our good aunt means to give us a new cousin? I feel sure she means to adopt Miss Hattie as her daughter.”
“Hardly against the will of the latter, who has a mind of her own, and few minds stronger or better balanced,” said Mr. W——.
“But this morning,” said Lizzie, “when I went early to her bedside, she was murmuring in her sleep, and I heard the words, ‘my precious daughter,’ distinctly. And when she awoke, I knew she had been thinking of Miss Butler, for she asked the very first thing if she was in the house.”
“That certainly bears out your idea,” said Mr. W——. “I will go and call Miss Hattie, and you can state your wishes to her. She will go with you, I know.”