“And Janet! Have you heard how she is?” asked Dick, eagerly.
“She’s better than she was, and it is said she’s at the bottom of the matter.”
“How’s that?” asked Dick, somewhat astonished.
“Why, Lady Elverston, who is a very kind lady—and even those who don’t like my lord confess that—was very often at your cottage, and one day she told your mother that she thought Janet’s sight might be restored. She promised to take her up to London to a doctor of some sort, who makes blind people see, they say. So it is all arranged, and after that your father gave in. As soon as they move to their new home, Janet is to go up with my lady.”
Dick could scarcely believe what he heard, and was now, naturally enough, in a greater hurry than ever to get home. He promised, if he could manage it, to come back and see Mrs Rudall again.
In better spirits than he had been for some time, he set off on his walk home. He had not much fear of being recognised, since Susan had failed to know him. He therefore took the shortest road. Seeing a light beaming through the window, he guessed that his father and mother were still up. The door, however, was bolted. He knocked loudly, crying out, “Let me in! let me in!”
“Oh, that’s Dick!” he heard Janet exclaim.
The door was hastily opened, and in another minute he was in his mother’s arms.
“Where do you come from?” asked his father, somewhat sternly. “You have given us all a great fright about you since we found that letter which you left in your room; and the rumours we heard did little to allay it.”
Dick expressed his contrition, declaring that he had acted for the best, and then gave, as briefly as he could, an account of himself up to the present time.