It was impossible now for Mrs. Worthington to accompany Hugh to the cottage, so he returned alone, while ’Lina, with aching head and shivering limbs, crept into bed, crying herself to sleep, and waking in the morning with a burning fever, scarcely less severe than that raging in Adah Hastings’ veins.
During the gloomy weeks which followed, Hugh’s heart and hands were full, inclination tempting him to stay by Adah, and stern duty, bidding him keep with ’Lina, who, strange to say, was always more quiet when he was near taking readily from him the medicine refused when offered by her mother. Day after day, week after week, Hugh watched alternately at their bedsides, and those who came to offer help felt their hearts glow with admiration for the worn, haggard man, whose character they had so mistaken, never dreaming what depths of patient, all-enduring tenderness were hidden beneath his rough exterior. Even Ellen Tiffton was softened, and forgetting the Ladies Fair, rode daily over to Spring Bank, ostensibly to inquire after ’Lina, but really to speak a kindly word to Hugh, to whom she felt she had done a wrong. How long these fevers ran, and Hugh began to fear that ’Lina’s never would abate, sorrowing much for the harsh words which passed between them, wishing they had been unsaid, for he would rather than none but pleasant memories should be left to him of his only sister. But ’Lina did not die, and as her disease had from the first assumed a far more violent form than Adah’s, so it was the first to yield, and February found her convalescent. With Adah it was different, and the neighbors grew tired of asking how she was and receiving always the same doubtful answer. But there came a change, a morning when she awoke from the deathlike stupor which had clouded her faculties so long, and the attending physician said to Hugh that his services would be needed but a little longer. There was joy at the cottage then, old Uncle Sam stealing away to his accustomed place of prayer down by the Willow Spring, where he so oft had asked that Miss Adah might be spared, and where now he knelt to thank the God who had restored her. Joy at Spring Bank, too, when Mrs. Worthington wept tears almost as joyful as any she had shed when told that ’Lina would live. Joy, too, unobtrusive joy in Hugh’s heart, a joy which would not be clouded by thoughts of the heavy bills which he must meet ere long. Physicians’ bills, together with that of Harney’s yet unpaid, for Harney, villain though he was, would not present it when Hugh was full of trouble; but the hour was coming when it must be settled, and Hugh at last received a note, couched in courteous terms, but urging immediate payment.
“I’ll see him to-day. I’ll know the worst at once,” he said, and mounting Rocket, he dashed down the Frankfort turnpike, and was soon closeted with Harney.
CHAPTER XIII.
HOW HUGH PAID HIS DEBTS.
The perspiration was standing in great drops about Hugh’s quivering lips, and his face was white as ashes, as, near the close of that interview, he hoarsely asked,
“Do I understand you, sir, that Rocket will cancel this debt and leave you my debtor for one hundred dollars?”
“Yes, that was my offer, and a most generous one, too, considering how little horses are bringing,” and Harney smiled villainously as he thought within himself, “Easier to manage than I supposed. I believe my soul I offered too much. I should have made it an even thing.”
He did not know Hugh Worthington, or dream of the volcano pent up beneath that calm exterior. Hugh had demurred to the fifty-dollar silk as a mistake, and when convinced that it was not, his wrath had known no bounds. Forgetting Golden Hair he had sworn so roundly that even Harney cowered before the storm; but that was over now, and ashamed of his passion, Hugh was making a strong effort to meet his fate like a man. Step by step as he knew so well how to do, Harney had reached the point of which for more than a year he had never lost sight.
“If Mr. Worthington had not the ready money, and, in these hard times, it was natural to suppose he had not, why then he would, as an accommodation, take Rocket, paying one hundred dollars extra, and Hugh’s debt would be cancelled.”
Hugh knew how long this plan had been premeditated, and his blood boiled madly when he heard it suggested, as if that moment had given it birth. Still he restrained himself, and asked the question we have recorded, adding after Harney’s reply,