After some difficulty with Reggie’s valet, they gained admittance to him, and made their business known.
What a moment for Reginald Hamilton! Doubt changed to certainty, sorrow to joy, despair to hope.
“If she will only forgive me!” he cried hopefully, but Doctor Ludington could not tell him what to expect. He only said:
“If I have any influence I will use it for you. But go now and beguile Patty Groves some way to Fifth Avenue, and I will meet you there with Dan. Justice shall be done at last, and little Eva’s fair name righted before the world, while the shame of the falsehood that marred her life shall fall on Patty Groves, where it belongs!”
CHAPTER XXXIX.
“ONLY YOU, MY DARLING!”
Patty could scarcely conceal her joy that Reginald Hamilton should invite her to accompany him to her cousin’s home and corroborate the truth of her scandalous story.
She thought it was a grand triumph to ride by his side in his fine carriage, secretly hoping to win him yet, since Eva had lost him forever.
“What’s up now, Pat?” Miss Tabby had inquired meekly, for only that morning she had been coolly told that Patty was going to ship her home to-morrow, and have done with her forever.
“The matter is that I’m invited to Eva’s at last!”