He laughed till the tears came to his eyes, then he groped after the bag. It was as she had said, stuffed with paper. “Poor little soul,” he muttered, “I would have comforted her if she had stayed. She wanted to show me that she was going to take command in this matrimonial alliance, but she didn’t come out well from her first battle. Deserted her colours and ran.”
CHAPTER IV.
RUBICON MEADOWS ARE LEFT BEHIND.
With a face as pale as the handkerchief pressed against it, Nina stood gazing into a corner of the waiting-room in the diminutive railway station of Rubicon Meadows.
Mrs. Danvers had broken down. She was in a pitiable state of confusion, and Mr. Danvers, with his round face in a snarl, was trying to comfort her.
“What hash these women are made of!” grumbled Captain Fordyce to himself. “She wanted Nina to go, she wants her to stay, she will break her heart in earnest if I leave her, and break it in appearance if I take her. Come, Nina, let us go out to the platform, the train will be here in three minutes.”
“’Steban, I can’t leave her—I oughtn’t to,” murmured the girl, miserably.
“All right—stay, then.”
“Mamma, mamma, I will stay with you,” and she ran and threw her arms around the weeping figure.