“It is much better that you should be alone
with her for a time. She will have innumerable
questions to ask, and would, of course, prefer to
have you to herself. I will come round tomorrow
morning after breakfast.”
Anna had been instructed very carefully, by her mistress,
not to say anything of what had happened, and in order
that she might avoid questions, George Lechmere had
seen her into a cab for Liverpool Street, as she wished
to spend a week with some friends at Chelmsford.
Then she was to join Bertha at Greendale.
Frank went to his chambers, where George Lechmere
had driven with the luggage. The next morning
he went early to Lady Greendale’s, so early
that he found her and Bertha at breakfast.
“My dear Frank,” the former said, embracing
him warmly, “how can I ever thank you for all
that you have done for us! Bertha has been telling
me all about how you rescued her. I hear that
you were wounded, too.”
“The wound was of no great importance, and,
as you see, I have thrown aside my sling this morning.
Yes, we went through some exciting adventures, which
will furnish us with a store of memories all our lives.
“How have you been, Lady Greendale? I am
glad to see that, at any rate, you are looking well.”
“I have had a terribly anxious time of it, as
you may suppose; but your letters were always so bright
and hopeful that they helped me wonderfully.
The first fortnight was the worst. Your letter
from Gibraltar was a great relief, and of course the
next, saying that you had heard that the yacht really
did touch at Madeira, showed that you were on the
right track. When you wrote from Madeira, I sent
to Wild’s for the largest map of the West Indies
that they had, and thus when I got your letters, I
was able to follow your course and understand all
about it. You are looking better than when I
saw you last.”
“You should have seen him when I first met him,
mamma. I hardly knew him, he looked so thin and
worn; but during the last three weeks he has filled
out again, and he seems to me to be looking quite
himself.”
“And Bertha is looking well, too.”
“So I ought to do, mamma. I don’t
think I ever looked very bad, in spite of my troubles,
and the splendid voyage we have had would have set
anyone up.”
“It has been a wonderful comfort to me,”
Lady Greendale said, “that I have met hardly
anyone that I know. The last three weeks or so
I have met two or three people, but I only said that
I was up in town for a short time. Of course,
they asked after you, and I said that you were not
with me, as you were spending a short time with some
people whom you knew. We intend to go down home
tomorrow.”
“The best thing that you can do, Lady Greendale.
I shall be down for Christmas, and the first week
in April, you know, I am to carry her off. So,
you see, this excursion of ours has not altered any
of our plans.”
