The tiny threads of fate had begun to gather. All yet was dark and misty; but in the gloom, faint and transient, was one small ray of light.
Eleanor gazed at the paper abstractedly for a few moments, vaguely trying to find some hidden clue to the mystery.
‘You must take care of that paper, Miss Nelly. Something tells me it contains a secret.’
‘And have you been searching for me two long years, for the sole purpose of giving me this?’ Eleanor asked.
‘Yes, miss,’ the sufferer replied simply. ‘I promised, you know. Indeed, I could not look at your uncle and break a vow like mine.’
‘And you came to London on purpose?’
‘Yes. No one knew where I was gone. I have no friends that I remember, and so I came to London. It is an old tale, miss. Trying day by day to get employment, and as regularly failing. I have tried many things the last two bitter years. I have existed—I cannot call it living—in the vilest parts of London, and tried to keep myself by my needle; but that only means dying by inches. God alone knows the struggle it is for a friendless woman here to keep honest and virtuous. The temptation is awful; and as I have been so sorely tried, I hope it will count in my favour hereafter. I have seen sights that the wealthy world knows nothing of. I have lived where a well-dressed man or woman dare not set foot. Oh, the wealth and the misery of this place they call London!’
‘And you have suffered like this for me?’ Eleanor said, the tears now streaming down her face. ‘You have gone through all this simply for my sake? Do you know, Madge, what a thoroughly good woman you really are?’
‘I, miss?’ the dying girl exclaimed in surprise. ‘How can I possibly be that, when you know what you do of me! O no; I am a miserable sinner by the side of you. Do you think, Miss Nelly, I shall be forgiven?’
‘I do not doubt it,’ said Eleanor softly; ‘I cannot doubt it. How many in your situation could have withstood your temptation?’