[CHAPTER IV.]
MAGGIE'S AUNTS.
THOSE last days which Maggie and I spent together in the old home were very happy ones. I took every opportunity I had of deepening in my little sister's mind the lessons I had tried to teach her from a child, and which she had always loved so much. I had great reason to hope that they had not been in vain, but that my dear little Maggie was in deed and in truth a child of God.
We were very busy sorting and packing our various possessions, and leaving all in the house in readiness for the sale which was to take place immediately we left.
I had received a satisfactory answer to my application for the post of companion, saying that Sir William Trafford, after due inquiries of my referees, would be glad of my services as companion to his daughter, Miss Evelyn Trafford, and would be glad to know on what day I should be able to commence my duties at Alliston Hall.
I did not see Claude again before I went away. The day after his visit to me I heard that he had again left home, and had returned to his friends in Scotland.
The evening before we left Acton, I went up to the Parsonage to say good-bye. Miss Richards received me very kindly, but we were both constrained in our manner, for we were thinking of the same thing, and neither of us liked to mention it. We spoke of the weather, of my future plans, of the sale of the furniture, of Mr. Ellis's health, and of a variety of other things and people; but Claude's name was carefully avoided, and that which was filling our thoughts was entirely kept out of the conversation. So it was no wonder that our talk flagged at times, and that we were very far from being natural or at our ease.