Oh! Mattie, you promise this--for me?"
"I promise."
"But," with a new fear visible on his face, "you will lose sight of him before the chance--of happiness--comes to the boy. You, ever apart from him--may not know----"
"Yes, I shall know--always!"
"He always stood your friend, remember, Mattie," said the old man, as if endeavouring to win over Mattie heart and soul to the new cause, by all the force of reasoning left in him. "He wasn"t like--me, and Wesden--ever inclined to waver in his thoughts of you. He believed--in you ever--to be good and true--and you will think of this?"
"I will," was the faint reply.
Mattie had bowed her head, and it was almost hidden in the bed-clothes.
The old man"s hand rested for an instant on the girl"s raven hair.
"I have--a hope--that from you, and through your means, Sid--poor old Sid!--may find peace and comfort at last. I was thinking--of your liking for us all--this very night."
"Were you? It was kind to think of me," with a low murmur.
"And I--somehow--built my hopes in you. Do you remember how you--and I--used to talk of Sid--in that old room, in Suffolk--Street?"
"Well."
"Keep me in his memory, when he"s very sad, remind him--of me--and how I loved him, Mattie," in a low, excited whisper. "I"m sure that he"s in trouble--that he keeps something--back from--me!""
"A fancy, perhaps. What should he hide from you?"
"I cannot tell; it may be fancy, but it--it worries me to think of. Oh!
Mattie, you"ll forget him, if that trouble--should come to him! You"ll forget--all this--and turn to that new father of yours! And I had hope in you."
"Hope in me ever. I will not betray your trust in me. Before all--myself, father, friends--_your son_!"
"Mattie!"
The father looked with a new surprise at our heroine. He had grown very weak, but her hasty, impetuous voice, seemed for an instant to give new life unto him.
"Hush! don"t betray me. Never to living soul before have I dared to tell, to breathe this! G.o.d forgive me, if I have failed to break away from all my folly, and have thought of him too much, as I, a stray from the streets, had never a right to think of one so well-born, honourable, and true. You forgive me--you, his father?"
"Yes."
"You know all now. How, without one ambitious thought of linking his name with mine, I will love him ever, and be ever, if he need it, his true friend, and sister. I will die for him, when the time comes, and the secret will die with me, and not shame us both. Judge me, if I am likely to forget him, sir."
"No--no--I see all now."
"Don"t mistake me; don"t think at the last that I would scheme for him, or ever marry him, to disgrace a family like yours. Don"t think anything but that I love Harriet Wesden, also, before myself, but not before him, though I have tried so hard to live him down! and that I will do my best--always my very best--to bring about the happiness of both of them!"
"And there--may--be only one way, Mattie."
"Only one way, I hope."
"I trust you--G.o.d bless you!--you were always a good girl. Call the boy--my poor boy, Sid!"
Mattie did as requested. At a slow, almost a painfully slow pace, Sidney re-entered, his hand still on Ann Packet"s arm.
"Sid--I--I think I"ll say good-bye, now!"
Sidney sprung forward and caught his hands.
"Not yet--not good-bye yet, sir!"
"Why not? I don"t fear to say it Sid--I"m strong at--heart--still; it"s a brave--a brave parting! No regrets--no sense of duty--neg--lected! A kind father, I hope--a--a good son--I know! G.o.d bless you, boy!--peace and happiness to yours--in life. Mattie--think--of him!"
Mattie bowed her head, and covered her face with her hands.
"Sidney--help her, too--if she"s in trouble--ever an old friend."
"A true one!"
"True as steel--I know it. Good-bye, Sid--keep strong for--the--old--father"s sake. Will--you?"
"Yes."
"_That"s well!_"
Sid bent over him and kissed him--kissed the calm face, so awfully calm and still now!--and then turned to Mattie.
"Take me away, Mattie. I can bear no more now. He was spared one trouble, thank G.o.d! In all his life he never guessed the end of this."
Mattie turned round, with a new fear possessing her.
"Sidney--Mr. Sidney!"
"Here--Mattie," he said, stretching forth his hand, and grasping, as it were, furtively for hers. "I shall need friends now to help me."
"Not--oh! my G.o.d, not blind?"
"I have been blind all day!"
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.