"Ah, Caroline, but ought I?" said Mrs. Lesly; "think of my poor children, and my health such as it is."
"But what possible harm could that do them?" said Mrs. Villars, as if surprised; "do you think I could be so barbarous as to think of hurting them. It is perfectly safe with me; and I will pay you in six months."
"But, my dear Caroline," said Mrs. Lesly, "why not tell Mr. Villars? it will be but the anger of an hour—contrast that with the pain of deceiving him."
"I do not mind telling him everything, when his present difficulties are over—now it would be unkind to ask me."
"But," answered her sister, timidly, "do you think I am right in suffering more of my money to be in private hands, even in yours?"
"Oh," said Mrs. Villars, coloring slightly, "you are speaking of the five hundred I owe you already; but you know I promised to pay that back with five per cent interest when my aunt Clara dies, and leaves me the legacy she promised, and which Villars always said I should do just as I liked with. I gave you a memorandum of the promise, in case of any mistake."
"Yes, I know," said Mrs. Lesly; "but I really do not know what I have done with it—I am afraid it is mislaid."
"I dare say," said Mrs. Villars, again coloring, and looking down upon the spill she was twisting from the pieces of an old letter; "but surely, if it be lost, you could not think your own sister would—"
"Oh, no, no," said Mrs. Lesly; "I think nothing but that you are imprudent; and oh, Caroline, however I may disguise the truth from Mabel—I am not ignorant that a few weeks may, and a few years certainly will, bring me to my grave. Now am I right to trust so much even to you?"
A mother's courage was strong, even in her timid and indolent mind, and she spoke with tears in her eyes.