[CHAPTER VIII]
A TERRIBLE FALL
"I AM sorry for many reasons, Mrs. Rose, because you have made me very comfortable, and have borne with my cantankerous ways as few would have done."
"You have been very good to us, Miss Beaumont, and we shall miss you sadly. I sometimes think we are indebted to you for more than one generous gift."
Miss Beaumont shook her head. "You've little to thank me for," she said in a kindly voice, "while I have reason to be grateful to you for much; you have taught me lessons of faith and patience, which I trust I may never forget."
Here her eyes grew misty for a moment. "When I am in a foreign land," she added, "I should be very glad if you would occasionally let me know of your welfare."
Mrs. Rose willingly promised, and after a little further conversation, she left Miss Beaumont's apartment, to busy herself as usual in domestic matters. To lose such a profitable lodger as Miss Beaumont at a month's notice was no slight matter in a household like The Gables, where the purse was slender enough already.
The winter too was coming on, with its increasing expenses, and how they were to be met, unless another lodger could be found to take Miss Beaumont's place, Mrs. Rose could not imagine.
The foregoing conversation took place about a week after Hugh's trouble at school, and was an added load to her burden of anxieties.
Whilst she was busy in the kitchen a message seemed borne to her. It echoed like music in her heart: