"Come," he said, "tell me what it is?"
And he drew her towards him.
She clung to him as she had never done before.
"It will be all right again," she whispered, "now I am with you."
"Were you afraid? Has anything happened to you?" he inquired, tenderly.
She nodded.
"Yes," she said, hastily, "a little while ago I chanced to hear a few words mamma was saying to Aunt Pauline--they came up from Jenny's--I suppose they did not think I was here--I don't know. Mamma was still crying very much about the baby and--then she said Jenny must go away--she must have a change--this apathy was so dangerous. You know she has not spoken a word for three days--and--I must accompany her on a long journey--so I--" She stopped and bit her quivering lips.
"So you might forget me if possible?" he inquired, gravely.
He put his hand under her chin and looked into her eyes. She did not reply, but he read the confirmation of his suspicion in her tearful eyes.
"Are they so anxious to be rid of me? Is their dislike so strong, Gertrude? And you?" He felt how she trembled.