“I am sorry, dear mamma, if you are lonely, but I cannot return to America. I do not wish for society anywhere. Here in Rome is my place, with my religion and the poor to occupy my time. Try to be happy, and to think of me as peaceful and contented. And, mamma, if there should be any good, honest man whom you would like to marry, I shall be glad of it. Goodness is the chief thing.”
Mrs. Ferrier wept profusely over this letter, not doubting that Lawrence was dead.
“The poor fellow!” she said. “After all, he wasn't so bad as he might have been.”
And then, bethinking herself, she wiped away her tears, and calmed her grief as much as possible; for it would not do to render herself unpresentable. It was necessary to go at once with the news to F. Chevreuse.
The way that Mrs. Ferrier took to the priest's house was a roundabout one; it led in an opposite direction, and stopped before a new dry-goods store of the most glittering sort. There was, in fact, no shop in Crichton so fine or so much frequented as this. People went there at first from curiosity, and were disposed to make themselves very merry regarding it; but there seemed to be nothing to laugh at, unless it might be certain erroneous notions in their own minds. Everything was well ordered and business-like, the clerks attentive and respectful, and the proprietor perfectly dignified and watchful. Indeed, a slight excess of dignity and watchfulness had at first marked his conduct, and made his customers wary of giving offence.
We have already intimated that Mrs. Ferrier had a new footman.
This functionary, a slim and sentimental young man, let down the [pg 682] step for his mistress; but before she had made her majestic descent, the proprietor of the shop stood in the door, bowing to his wealthy customer. She beckoned him out, and motioned the footman away out of hearing.
“Poor Lawrence is dead, John!” she said plaintively, a smile tempering her grief. “And it's best so, of course. I've just got a letter from Annette. And, John—”
The lady paused, and looked down, and laughed a little.
“Well, what is it?” asked the new merchant with an appearance of curiosity.