Thereupon, by the widow's direction, she searched for and found two small packets which had been hidden away between the mattress and the bed. One of them was a stout envelope sealed with red wax, containing some soft substance, the nature of which Hermia was at a loss to make out. The other was a small canvas bag full of money. Then, still by the dying woman's request, she procured paper, and string and made the two up into one parcel, which she addressed to Richard Varrel, at the same place to which the letter had been addressed.
"You will send it to him by post, dear Miss Hermy, after I'm gone, won't you, with just a line, as you promised?" gasped Mrs. Varrel.
"But seeing that your son has failed to respond to the note I wrote him," replied Hermia, "is it not possible that he may have gone away without informing you; and should that be the case what will become of the money?"
"I never thought of that," gasped Mrs. Varrel, with a sudden scared look. "And yet he must have the money--he must! Tell me--tell me, Miss Hermy, what is to be done?"
For a few moments Hermia did not answer--she could not. Her nerves had just undergone a shock which had left her as white and trembling as if she had seen a ghost. Drawing a deep breath, and speaking as steadily as she could force herself to do, she presently said:
"I will myself take the parcel to London, and if it be anyhow possible, I will find your son and deliver it into his hands and into those of no one else."
The dying woman thanked her and blessed her. It was evident that a great weight had been lifted off her mind.
Next day when Hermia went to see her she was unconscious, and a few hours later she breathed her last.
What was it that had so strangely affected Hermia; that had sent the blood surging round her heart, and had caused the room and its contents to rock before her eyes as though shaken by an earthquake?
On the envelope which she had made up into a parcel with the bag of gold her eye had been caught by these words, written in pencil, "Given into my charge by my son Richard on the 6th of October."