She was one who never let the sun go down on her wrath. She had forgiven old Wilton’s harsh words although they had so pained her. Now she had no hope that all the attention, care, and service she might be called upon to bestow would remove his objections to her; nevertheless she should be able to do some good for Mark’s sake; and if the parting with him for ever took place beneath the roof of his father, it would not be embittered, at least, by the remembrance that she had granted the aid he had asked of her.
She wiped hastily from her eyelids the tears which memories awakened by Nathan Gomer had gathered there, and said to him simply—
“I will go with you, sir, to Harleydale.”
For a moment the nostrils of Nathan were widely inflated, and he gave a very perceptible gulp.
“Hem!” he ejaculated, clearing his throat. “We will be off in two hours from this, so, lassie, make your preparations, and only one box, if you please—I say, only one box.”
Then he turned to Helen, and said—
“Madam, I know you, though you are unacquainted with me. Pardon me if I tell you matters are going on sadly in your father’s house. The family pride has had a dreadful fall. Your father is absent, your sister Margaret has—I say your sister Margaret has left her home, and your mother is confined to her bed in serious illness, with Evangeline, your sister, as her sole attendant; for the myrmidons of the law are in the house, and the servants have decamped.”
Helen listened to him like one in a dream; then she turned to her husband, and said to him—
“Hugh, we will proceed there this moment.”
He silently, but readily acquiesced; and with a few hasty loving words to Lotte concerning the future, Helen embraced her and departed, taking Lotte’s “pet” with her and her husband.