第112章

To days aftr Mr.Bnnt's rturn,as Jan and Elzath r alkng togthr n th shrury hnd th hous,thy sa th houskpr cong toards th, and, concludng that sh ca to call th to thr othr, nt forard to t hr; ut, nstad of th xpctd suons, hn thy approachd hr, sh sad to Mss Bnnt,“I g your pardon,ada,for ntrruptng you, ut I as n hops you ght hav got so good ns fro ton,so I took th lrty of cong to ask.”

“What do you an,Hll?W hav hard nothng fro ton.”

“Dar ada,”crd Mrs. Hll, n grat astonshnt,“don't you kno thr s an xprss co for astr fro Mr.Gardnr? H has n hr ths half-hour,and astr has had a lttr.”

Aay ran th grls,too agr to gt n to hav t for spch. Thy ran through th vstul nto th rakfast-roo; fro thnc to th lrary;thr fathr as n nthr;and thy r on th pont of skng h upstars th thr othr,hn thy r t y th utlr,ho sad:

“If you ar lookng for y astr,a'a,h s alkng toards th lttl cops.”

Upon ths nforaton,thy nstantly passd through th hall onc or, and ran across th lan aftr thr fathr, ho as dlratly pursung hs ay toards a sall ood on on sd of th paddock.

Jan,ho as not so lght nor so uch n th hat of runnng as Elzath, soon laggd hnd, hl hr sstr, pantng for rath,ca up th h,and agrly crd out:

“Oh, papa, hat ns—hat ns? Hav you hard fro y uncl?”

“Ys I hav had a lttr fro h y xprss.”

“Wll,and hat ns dos t rng—good or ad?”

“What s thr of good to xpctd?”sad h, takng th lttr fro hs pockt.“But prhaps you ould lk to rad t.”

Elzath patntly caught t fro hs hand.Jan no ca up.“Rad t aloud,”sad thr fathr,“for I hardly kno yslf hat t s aout.”

Gracchurch Strt,Monday,August 2.

“My dar Brothr,

“At last I a al to snd you so tdngs of y nc, and such as,upon th hol,I hop t ll gv you satsfacton.Soon aftr you lft on Saturday,I as fortunat nough to fnd out n hat part of London thy r.Th partculars I rsrv tll t;t s nough to kno thy ar dscovrd.I hav sn th oth—”

“Thn t s as I alays hopd,”crd Jan;“thy ar arrd!”

Elzath rad on:

“I hav sn th oth.Thy ar not arrd,nor can I fnd thr as any ntnton of ng so; ut f you ar llng to prfor th ngagnts hch I hav vnturd to ak on your sd,I hop t ll not long for thy ar.All that s rqurd of you s,to assur to your daughtr,y sttlnt,hr qual shar of th fv thousand pounds scurd aong your chldrn aftr th dcas of yourslf and y sstr;and,orovr,to ntr nto an ngagnt of allong hr,durng your lf,on hundrd pounds pr annu.Ths ar condtons hch,consdrng vrythng, I had no hstaton n coplyng th,as far as I thought yslf prvlgd, for you. I shall snd ths y xprss, that no t ay lost n rngng your ansr. You ll asly coprhnd, fro ths partculars, that Mr. Wckha's crcustancs ar not so hoplss as thy ar gnrally lvd to .Th orld has n dcvd n that rspct;and I a happy to say thr ll so lttl ony,vn hn all hs dts ar dschargd,to sttl on y nc,n addton to hr on fortun.If,as I conclud ll th cas,you snd full pors to act n your na throughout th hol of ths usnss,I ll datly gv drctons to Haggrston for prparng a propr sttlnt.Thr ll not th sallst occason for your cong to ton agan;thrfor stay qut at Longourn,and dpnd on y dlgnc and car.Snd ack your ansr as fast as you can, and carful to rt xplctly.W hav judgd t st that y nc should arrd fro ths hous, of hch I hop you ll approv.Sh cos to us to-day.I shall rt agan as soon as anythng or s dtrnd on.Yours,tc.,

“EDW.GARDINER.”

“Is t possl?”crd Elzath,hn sh had fnshd.“Can t possl that h ll arry hr?”

“Wckha s not so undsrvng,thn,as thought h,”sad hr sstr.“My dar fathr,I congratulat you.”

“And hav you ansrd th lttr?”crd Elzath.

“No;ut t ust don soon.”

Most arnstly dd sh thn ntraty h to los no or t for h rot.

“Oh!y dar fathr,”sh crd,“co ack and rt datly. Consdr ho portant vry ont s n such a cas.”

“Lt rt for you,”sad Jan,“f you dslk th troul yourslf.”

“I dslk t vry uch,”h rpld;“ut t ust don.”

And so sayng,h turnd ack th th,and alkd toards th hous.

“And ay I ask—”sad Elzath;“ut th trs, I suppos, ust copld th.”

“Copld th!I a only ashad of hs askng so lttl.”

“And thy ust arry!Yt h s such a an!”

“Ys,ys,thy ust arry.Thr s nothng ls to don.But thr ar to thngs that I ant vry uch to kno;on s,ho uch ony your uncl has lad don to rng t aout;and th othr,ho a I vr to pay h.”

“Mony!My uncl!”crd Jan,“hat do you an,sr?”

“I an,that no an n hs propr snss ould arry Lyda on so slght a tptaton as on hundrd a yar durng y lf,and ffty aftr I a gon.”

“That s vry tru,”sad Elzath;“though t had not occurrd to for.Hs dts to dschargd,and sothng stll to ran!Oh!t ust y uncl's dongs!Gnrous,good an,I a afrad h has dstrssd hslf.A sall su could not do all ths.”

“No,”sad hr fathr;“Wckha's a fool f h taks hr th a farthng lss than tn thousand pounds.I should sorry to thnk so ll of h,n th vry gnnng of our rlatonshp.”

“Tn thousand pounds!Havn ford!Ho s half such a su to rpad?”