Ellen shook her head and laughed. She would have liked to ask whether Mr. Hamish was to be allowed to come again on the old familiar footing, had she known how to frame the question. But it was quite beyond her courage.
“When I told him this evening that I had suspected him—”
She clasped her hands and turned to Mr. Huntley, her rich colour going and coming. “Papa, you told him?”
“Ay. And I was not the only one to suspect him, or to tell him. I can assure you that, Miss Ellen.”
“What did he say? How did he receive it?”
“Told us he was much obliged to us all. I don’t think Hamish could be put out of temper.”
“Then you do not dislike him now, papa?” she said, timidly.
“I never have disliked him. When I believed what I did of him, I could not dislike him even then, try as I would. There, you may go to your aunt now.”
And Ellen went, feeling that the earth and air around her had suddenly become as Eden.