"I wonder if all letters are so full of tears?" I exclaimed, taking the missive tenderly in my hands. "But see the date, and how long it has been in coming! She will have died, I know, ere I can reach her!"
"You will go to her, then?" Constance answered.
"Yes, and to-day, if there is a way," I answered, getting to my feet.
"Oh, you can't go so soon, Gilbert, and on so long a journey!" Constance answered, putting up her hand as if to restrain me.
"Why not? The distance is nothing," I answered, with some pride.
"See, Gilbert, what is this?" Constance interrupted, unfolding a paper she had picked up from the ground; "an order to pay you money, and for five hundred dollars. Surely, your aunt means all she says and more!"
Yes, so it was; a fortune, and sent that I might come to her without loss of time or expense to my friends.
"Oh, aunt, I will come, be sure!" I cried, scarce able to decipher the paper, so clouded were my eyes with tears.
"You will need it all, Gilbert; it is so far, and you can't go alone, you know. Oh, how I wish I were going with you!" the sweet girl exclaimed, clasping my neck as if no one could protect me so well as she.
"I wish you were, sweetheart, for I shall be unhappy till I come back to you," I answered, my heart sinking at the thought of leaving her.