Urged by a restless night and an instinctive longing for fresh air,
she took a long walk in the park before anyone came down the next
morning, with only Jock for her companion, and she came to the
breakfast table with a freshened look, though with a tremulous
faintness in her voice, and she let Janet continue tea maker,
scarcely seeming to hear or understand the casual remarks around her;
but afterwards she said in a resolute tone, "Robert, I am ready
whenever you wish to speak to me."
So in the drawing-room the Colonel, with the two wills in his hand,
found himself face to face with her. He was the more nervous of the
two, being, much afraid of upsetting that composure which scandalised
his wife, but which he preferred to tears; and as he believed her to
be a mere child in perception, he explained down to her supposed
level, while she listened in a strange inert way, feeling it hard to
fix her attention, yet half-amused by the simplicity of his
elucidations. "Would Ellen need to be told what an executor meant?"
thought she.
She was left sole guardian of the children, "the greatest proof of
confidence a parent can give," impressively observed the Colonel,
wondering at the languor of her acquiescence, and not detecting the
thought, "Dear Joe! of course! as if he would have done anything
else!"
"Of course," continued the Colonel, "he never expected that it would
have proved more than a nominal matter, a mere precaution.
Pages:
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75