Evelyn never thought of the incongruity.
It was only her husband's prostration with grief and desolation that
drew her off, to do her best with her pretty childish caresses and
soothings; and when the two had been sent to their own home, Mrs.
Evelyn was so calm that her friend felt she might be left with her
daughter for the night, and returned, bringing her tender love to
"Our Babie," as she called the girl.
She clung very much to Barbara in the ensuing days. The presence of
every one seemed to oppress her except that of her own children, and
the two youngest Brownlows, for had not Armine been the depository of
all Fordham's last messages? What she really seemed to return to as
a refreshment after each needful consultation with Sir James on the
dreary tasks of the mourners, was to finish the packing of those
"Traveller's Joys" which lay strewn about Fordham's sitting-room,
open at the fly leaves, that the ink might dry.
Esther was very gentle and sweet, taking it quite naturally that
Babie should be a greater comfort to her mother-in-law than herself;
and content to be a very valuable assistant herself, for the stimulus
made her far more capable than she had been thought to be. She
managed almost all the feminine details, while Sir James attended to
the rest.
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