Oh, what a cry of grief came from her sweet lips as she saw the proud, strong old man so altered, looking years older in the weeks since she had seen him—so old, so wan, so ill! She fell on her knees by his bed, and kissed his pale cheek, sobbing out all her love and her noble forgiveness.
CHAPTER LI.
“UNTIL DEATH DO US PART.”
It almost seemed as if the news that Violet was still alive, and her return to Golden Willows, put new life into the stern old judge.
He began to rally from his extreme depression, and when Violet had staid with him a little while, he fell into a peaceful sleep, that lasted until morning.
Meanwhile, Cecil had hurried home to tell his mother of the startling events that had happened since he had left her at noon with Amber. Mrs. Shirley had sent a maid from Golden Willows to nurse Amber at the Melrose cottage, so he did not think it necessary to go back there.
But when he had told Mrs. Grant all the story of Amber’s treachery, she sighed deeply, and said:
“Poor girl! she has been very wicked, and I am glad you escaped the marriage she planned for you. But, Cecil, we must not forget her great kindness, nor the gratitude we owe her for the loan that saved Bonnycastle.”
“But, mother, it seems as if she deliberately planned the foreclosure of the mortgage, in order to work out her plan of the elopement, and to snare me in her toils,” he replied, indignantly.
“Poor Amber! was she indeed so wicked? But yet, I pity her, now that her sins have found her out, and she is so desolate and forsaken. And since Mrs. Shirley cannot go to her, Cecil, why it almost seems my duty to care for her now; so, early in the morning, you must take me to the Melrose cottage.”
He did not gainsay her wish, and took her in a carriage the next morning.