He exclaimed: "I am lucky to have it to help you out, Auntie. I've got it right here."
The sense of security transformed Mrs. Carew. She laughed gently, put her hand on her nephew's shoulder again, exclaiming—
"How fortunate! Tony, how glad I am I thought of you!"
He gave her all of his mother's gift but ten dollars, and as she bestowed it carefully away she murmured—
"It is a superb lamp, and a great bargain. You shall see it lit to-night."
"I'm afraid not to-night, Aunt Caroline. I'm off to see Cedersholm now, and I shan't be up to much, I reckon, when I get back."
His visitor rose, and Fairfax discovered that he did not wish to detain her as he had thought to do before she had mentioned her errand. She seemed to have entirely escaped him. She was as intangible as air, as unreal.
As he opened the door for her, considering her, he said—
"Bella looks very much like my mother, doesn't she, Aunt Caroline?"
Mrs. Carew thought that Bella resembled her father.