CHAPTER XXVII
A LEGAL DOCUMENT IS RECEIVED
“He will be here to-day! Surely, Horace will be here to-day,� Nellie Wylie repeated to herself as the hours crept slowly on and the time arrived when, by her reckoning, her husband should have reached C——.
Mark had driven out to meet him, and the little woman scanned again and again the broad bosom of the plain for a sight of the returning carriage. The grass was dry and golden in the sunlight and her eyes ached from the reflected brightness as, shading them with her hand, she stood for the fiftieth time before the cabin door and sought to trace the slender thread of roadway.
“Alice, I am sure there is some one coming,� she cried at last, as a brown speck became visible against the horizon. Alice came and looked over her shoulder.
“It is only Jackson, the mail-carrier, I am afraid,� Alice replied. “You know, dearie, Mark would be detained for a little time, while Jackson has hastened directly here. You must not look too much upon Horace’s coming to-night, for the train may have been delayed or many things may have happened to detain him.�
The letter-box was fastened at the roadside nearly opposite Mark’s house, but seeing Alice in the doorway, Jackson threw his package of mail to her and galloped on to the next post.
“Here is a letter for you, dear,� said Alice as she sorted out the mail and came slowly up to the waiting sister.
“A letter? And from Horace, too! He must have written before he started.� And her bright eyes glanced eagerly over the sheet she had hurriedly opened. “Oh, merciful Heaven!�
The cry startled Alice, and she turned to see Elinor stagger as if stricken by a blow and then sink in a limp and helpless heap upon the ground.
“Why, Elinor! Nellie! What is it?� cried Alice, running to her and lifting the poor fallen head in her arms. “My poor Nellie! Is it bad news? Tell me!� she implored, while she rubbed the pulseless wrists and tried to arouse her to consciousness.