'O mother, what is it? Has Sir Herbert come back?'
'Not yet, dear. The news is, that the poor sailors supposed to have been lost in the Daring's cutter are not drowned after all. An outward-bound vessel picked them up and took them on to Havre. They returned here safe and well this morning, so there has not been a single life lost.'
'Thank God for that!' exclaims Katie reverently, with clasped hands; and never was ejaculation more heartfelt.
'Yes, He is very merciful; we must trust Him more, Katie.'
'Mother, I have even doubted His mercy sometimes! In my misery, I thought even He had turned against me; but those wretched feelings are past now, and if Herbert would come back, even happiness might return to us again.'
There are many letters in the mail-bag that morning, but Lady Dillworth lays them all aside—only one interests her, and that bears the Hayes Hill post-mark. 'This is from Laura Best; perhaps there is news of Herbert in it.' Katie opens the envelope with trembling hands, glances at the contents, and exclaims: 'Herbert is ill—lying ill at Laura's, and she has written to summon me down there.'
The particulars are soon made known. The Admiral went to Hayes Hill on his return journey from London, and as soon as he arrived there, was stricken down with sudden illness. He had shewn no sign of recovery up to the present, and Laura's letter was most urgent.
'I must go to Herbert at once. Oh, why did he go there in his time of sickness and danger? When he felt the attack coming on, why didn't he come back to me?'
'Ah, why indeed?' echoes Mr Grey gravely, as he folds up his papers and locks his desk.
Soon all is bustle and preparation. Mr Grey hurries everybody half out of their wits in his anxiety to be in time for the next train to Hayes Hill. He has decided on going down there with Katie, and says he will not leave her till he sees her once more under the same roof with her husband. Lady Dillworth's boxes are sent to the station direct from Government House; and she and her father are soon speeding on their way as rapidly as the swift locomotive can take them. It is a cold misty day, and Katie glances out on the dreary country with a listless eye and a heart as dreary as the scene. She fears that after all she may be too late to see her husband alive; and even if he is living, she wonders whether he will forgive her, or again turn from her with that sorrowful look of reproach.