“Well, he answered me scornfully enough, at first, and told me I was welcome to take possession of a bad man’s ill-gotten gains, and more angry words he added. But that was only at first. He had a friend with him who sent me away, and bade me come again in the morning. From him I heard something of the cause of your brother’s anger against my uncle. We were on better terms, your brother and I, before I left.”
“And was he angry with me? I mean, was he angry that I was with your uncle at the end?”
“He did not speak of that. You must let me thank you for all you did for my uncle in his last days.”
“Oh! no. You must not thank me. It was only my duty; I could not have done otherwise,” said Allison. “And did Willie not speak of me at all?”
“Yes. He said that there was not in all Scotland another woman like his sister Allie, nor in America either.”
Allison, smiled at that.
“And did he send no letter to me?”
“Yes, he sent a letter. I have it with me. No, I gave it to a friend, who said he would put it into your own hand.”
“It was to your brother’s friend that he gave the letter,” said Mrs Esselmont in a whisper.
So when Allison came home to see a light in the parlour window, and a tall shadow moving back and forth upon the blind, she knew who was waiting for her there.