“I shall want some one to help me.”
“Yes, you will, dear; but I must not come. It would make her worse if I were near. Oh, John! John! I wonder why such trouble is allowed to come to you. I would give my life to help you if I might; but you must bear it all alone. Perhaps Mrs. Hunter is not really as ill as we fear.”
“She is worse than I thought her. I am afraid of the future. Is there hope anywhere? Margaret, you will always love me whatever comes?”
“Always, always; be very sure of it; and when I may I will come to you. But for the present you must take this house and the money, and let your mother do as she likes with it.”
“You are not exactly a woman of business, my dear,” said John. “You cannot give up your house and money like this, you know. Neither must you go away.”
“Yes, John, I must—for the present, at all events. There is no other way out of the difficulty.”
John considered gravely. Love ought to be first, he thought; did not every one say it was the greatest force in the world? But Duty? John Dallington and Margaret Miller gave Duty the highest place in their lives, and both knew that neither could be happy by trying to put even love itself before it.
“I can scarcely tell, I do not really know what is right,” said John. “I could not put my mother into an asylum, unless it should become absolutely necessary; and neither could I let her be a prisoner in her own house. And just now I think that she is not in a fit state to be left without my oversight, and, therefore, it seems necessary for me to remain at home with her. As for you, my darling, I am afraid it would not be safe to bring you to my home at present. And yet, how can I let you go far from me? Cannot you remain here for awhile?”
“No, John, I will go to High Seathorpe and commence this new work which has been given me to do. I shall be the better for such an occupation. It will absorb my thoughts and fill my days with congenial labour. I wrote this morning accepting the position, and Ann posted the letter.”
“Very well,” said John, with a sigh. “I suppose we must take life as we find it. Perhaps things will right themselves, and bring us happiness by the time that we are too old to enjoy it.”