"I am not keeping my promise to the doctor, Annie. I must take one of those horrid pills, and go to bed. I want to sleep and forget everything."
The next day was so pleasant that Mrs. Mitchell proposed she should take a drive; but Marion had no heart for anything, unless, indeed, "I could go to the Home for the Sick and see Mary Falkner,—and I don't believe the doctor would let me do that. I could ask Dr. B— to examine the record too. If Stella's name was Angus, I—" she stopped suddenly on hearing the doctor's step.
He came in while they were discussing the subject, and ended it by saying she was to go and drive around the park for an hour.
He contrived to send every one from the room, and then asked,—
"What success?"
"None at all. I have no hope, now, and have made up my mind to be as patient as I can till I am well enough to see the one to whom I referred, and tell him what I know. I think he will forgive me, but I can never forgive myself."
After this, she went out every pleasant day for a week, and gained strength rapidly, notwithstanding her abiding regret in regard to the lost packet. Then came a few days of wet weather, when she was obliged to keep in-doors. She sent for her pupils, gave them lessons, and heard them sing and play. She sent for new music for Annie, and tried to interest herself in it. She purchased flowers and sent them to Mrs. Douglass, who, under the care of an experienced physician, was gaining strength daily. The first pleasant day she resolved to go to Grantbury, taking James with her. Annie Leman had returned to her aunt, and was giving lessons to her first pupils.
One morning she stood watching the cloud, which seemed to be blowing over, and said to herself, "To-morrow, if it clears up, I shall be off. What a relief it will be to tell him, and be forgiven for my neglect of so sacred a trust!"
She heard the bell ring, and then James's voice asking whether she would see Mr. Belknap.
"Certainly; ask him up at once." She advanced eagerly to the door to meet her father's aged friend, and her own legal adviser.