After that she sat a long time, thinking, and trying to decide what she should do to wrest her heritage from the greedy clutch of John Hubbard and his accomplices, as she regarded them.
“I have no money, except what I have saved from my allowance, and that, I fear, would not be a tempting retaining fee for any reliable lawyer. Then I wonder if papa would want all that past experience of his life raked over, to become subjects of discussion for a scandal-loving public? If that woman’s story is true, it proves that mama was never a lawful wife, even though papa may have believed he was free when he married her. Ah! he was so fond of her; it would certainly have deeply wounded him to have the truth known, and I would not wish to do anything to bring reproach upon the memory of either of them.”
It was a trying position for the tender-hearted, conscientious girl, and she was sorely perplexed. On the one hand, if she made no effort to recover the fortune which her father had willed to her, she would be reduced to abject poverty; on the other hand, it seemed as if she would only be turning to sting the hearts that had nourished her by entailing opprobrium upon their names.
Finally she returned the clothing and letters to the box, carefully locking it, and putting the key in her purse. Then she went wearily up-stairs to her room.
The next morning Allison purposely delayed going down to breakfast until after John Hubbard had left the house for his usual trip to New York.
Thus she was alone at the table, and, while she went through the form of breaking her fast, she took up the morning paper, which her guardian had left lying beside her plate and began to glance over its columns.
Suddenly she started and uttered a joyful cry as her eye caught the following paragraph:
“We learn from a Boston correspondent that the talented artist, Mr. Charles Manning, has recently returned from his long sojourn in Rome, where he has been pursuing his chosen profession under most favorable auspices, and established himself with his charming family in Boston, where he has some important commissions—one of which is the decoration of the ceiling of the elegant banquet hall of the —— House,a magnificent hotel which has recently been erected in that city. It is probable that, later, he will return to and locate in New York, where he will be warmly welcomed back to the circle from which both he and his cultivated wife have so long been missed. They are now stopping at the Vendome.”
“Oh, could! anything have happened more opportunely?” Allison breathed, with a sob of thankfulness, as she laid down the paper to wipe the blinding tears from her eyes. “Cousin Charlie will be just the one to help me out of this dreadful trouble, and Annie will gladly take me under the friendly shelter of her wing until I can free myself from this hateful bondage to John Hubbard.”