"And you cannot help me?" he asked again, with a distracted air.
"I can," she answered—"I will—it is here—all you ask—take it—repair to my mother—save her—yourself."
She presented him with a paper as she spoke. He opened it eagerly, and his eye glittered again as he perused it.
"Did you get it easily, child?" he said.
"No—with difficulty—great difficulty," she answered wildly. "But there it is. It will relieve you from your present trouble, and pay your passage."
"Augustus—we will start to-night," said the general anxiously, "we will not lose a moment."
"Father," said Elinor, with agitation, "I must be gone. Give my love to my mother. I have sent all that I could procure for her comfort and happiness. I tell you, father, it was not obtained without some sacrifice. Spend it not rashly—every coin will have its value. I may not be able to send you more. Tell her not to curse me when she hears my name mentioned as it will be mentioned, but to forgive and forget me."
The old man was reading the bank-bill whilst his daughter spoke, and had eyes and ears for nothing else.
"We shall never forget you, dear child," he said, almost mechanically.
He folded the bill carefully, put it into his pocket, buttoned that as carefully, and looked up. The daughter had departed.