She did her best to hide her troubles from her grandmother and Ronald, assuming in their presence a cheerfulness and even gayety which she was far from feeling. The only friends in whom she felt ready to confide, and whose sympathy and advice would have been a help to her, were Dr. and Mrs. Jasper; but she had not the heart to ask it of them, a pathetic note from Serena having acquainted her with the trial they were passing through.
Earthly helpers failed her; she seemed left to breast the storm alone, while the clouds grew darker day by day, as Bangs waxed more and more wroth at her steadfast refusal to bend to his will.
Then she turned for help to the God of her fathers, crying to Him: “‘Deliver me, oh, my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.’”
Meanwhile, Mr. Himes was recovering from his wounds much more rapidly than had been supposed possible, and was gloating over the prospect of bringing his intended murderer to trial. He held frequent interviews with Charlton, and the latter was kept very busy in hunting up evidence in that and several important cases likely to be called up at the next term of court.
It was this unusual pressure of important business which kept him away from Lakeside, in spite of a strong desire to see his friends there—Miriam not less than other members of the family.
Mr. Himes’s condition had so greatly improved that he was no longer confined to his room, but usually spent the greater part of the day among the loungers on the porch before the barroom door, and occasionally walked a short distance up or down the street. He was an early riser, and often came down-stairs long before the call to breakfast, eager to exchange the closeness and heat of his circumscribed bedroom for the fresh outside air of street or porch.
“Strong,” he asked, one evening as they sat smoking there together, “what’s become o’ that raft o’ mine? d’ye know?”
“I b’lieve it’s lyin’ moored just where ye left it,” was the reply; “I heard somebody say so a day or two since.”
“Well, I’m goin’ to walk out there and see for myself.”
“I wouldn’t try a walk o’ that length yet awhile, if I was you, Himes,” returned Strong, with a look of surprise; “ye’re weak yet and the weather’s hot; the sun was scorching hot to-day.”