"I would have married him, Dad, if—if I had had to tramp the road."
Truxton came on the noon train. He drove at once to Huntersfield with his mother, was embraced by the Judge, kissed Becky, and suddenly disappeared.
"Where's he gone?" the Judge asked, irritably. "Where has he gone, Claudia?"
"He will be back in time for lunch," said Mrs. Beaufort. "May I speak to you in the library, Father?"
Becky, from the moment of her aunt's arrival, had known that something was wrong. She had expected to see Mrs. Beaufort glowing with renewed youth, radiant. Instead, she looked as if a blight had come upon her, shrivelled—old. When she smiled it was without joy; she was dull and flat.
It was a half hour before Aunt Claudia came out from the library. "My dear," she said, finding Becky still on the porch, "I have something to tell you. Will you go up-stairs with me?—I—think I should like to—lie down——"
Becky put a strong young arm about her and they went up together.
"It's—it's about Truxton," Aunt Claudia said, prone on the couch in her room. "Becky—he's married——"
"Married?"