"I will take you to them, my dear. I should not like for you to travel alone any more."
"Oh, how good you are, dearest uncle!" cried the girl, gladly. "But do you see they want me to come right away? They want me to be there at the celebration of my grandmother's birthday, which, she says, will be quite an event in the Franklyn family, so that all the clan will be gathered at the old homestead, and I can see all of them."
"We can start for Richmond to-morrow," her uncle answered, smilingly.
[CHAPTER XLIII.]
THE OLD HOUSEKEEPER'S STORY.
I can not rise, my darling,
My breast is bleeding—see!
I stabbed myself, thou knowest,
When thou wast reft from me!
H. Heine.
"But my diamonds, Uncle Ben. I must wait here for them, you know," said Kathleen.
"Pooh! We can leave that affair in the hands of a lawyer," he replied, carelessly.
He was determined that nothing should hinder this opportune trip.