"Something she must accomplish first. If she has secured the medicines, and they are safe not to run away in her absence, then what is it she means?"
Clarence shook his head, saying: "I have no idea. She speaks as if the thing, whatever it is, was attended with some risk."
"And this explains Henry's absence," Olive said, tapping the letter in her lap. "No doubt he was summoned without any previous warning. Of course, he is a mere tool for his master. They will hardly dare let him see their game."
"Hardly; but if they were not using him to Madeline's satisfaction, she would have revealed herself to him."
"True."
"We are approaching a crisis now. If this new movement fails,—but I hardly think it will."
Olive looked up in alarm. "Oh, don't suggest failure," she exclaimed. "She must succeed. What will become of poor Philip if she does not?"
Clarence lifted his face reverently. "I believe that the Power above us, who permits evil to be because only from pain and sorrow comes purification, has not permitted the life of this beautiful young girl to be darkened in vain. Out of her wrongs, and her sorrows, and her humiliation, He will allow her own hands to shape not only a strong, true, earnest womanhood for herself, but the weapons which shall deliver the innocent, and bring the guilty to justice."
And Olive felt comforted, and her hope took new wings.