“No,” answered Ben, “she didn’t, and the thankfullest prayer I ever prayed was the one I made in the buttery, behind the door, when the doctor said she would get well.”
Supper was announced, and putting up his muslins, Ben followed his host to the dining room. Alice, too, was at the table, the bracelet still upon her wrist, for she liked the feeling of it. “And she did so wish it was hers.”
“I shall have to buy it for you, I reckon,” said Frederic, and he inquired its price.
“Wall, now,” returned Ben, “if ’twas any body but the little gal, I should say five dollars, but bein’ it’s hers, I’d kinder like to give it to her.”
This, however, Frederic would not suffer. Alice would not keep it, he said, unless he paid for it, and he put a half eagle into the hand of the child, who offered it to Ben. For a moment, the latter hesitated, then thinking to himself, “Darnt it all, what’s the use. If Marian goes to school, as I mean she shall, she’ll need a lot of money, and what I get out o’ him is clear gain,” he pocketed the piece, and the bracelet belonged to Alice.
After supper, Ben sat down by the fire in the dining room, hoping the family would leave him with Alice, and this they did ere long, Isabel going to the piano, and Frederic to the library to answer letters, while Mrs. Huntington gave some directions for breakfast. These directions were merely nominal, however, for Dinah, to all intents and purposes, was mistress of the household, and she came in to see to the supper dishes, which were soon cleared away, and Ben, as he wished, was alone with Alice. The bracelet seemed to be a connecting link between them, for Alice was not in the least shy of him now, and when he asked her again to sit in his lap, she did so readily.
“That Miss Isabel is a dreadful han’some gal,” he began; “I should s’pose Mr. Raymond would fall in love with her.”
No answer from Alice, whose sightless eyes looked steadily into the fire.
“Mebby he is in love with her.”
No answer yet, and mentally chiding himself for his stupidity in not striking the right vein, Ben continued: