They must wait to examine her till these first raptures had subsided,
and in the mean time Caroline wrote a telegram to go as early as
possible to Mr. Wakefield. It showed a guilty conscience that Mrs.
Gould should not have telegraphed to him Elvira's flight.
When at last Mrs. Brownlow held that the interview must come to an
end, and with preliminary warning opened the door, there they were,
with clasped hands, such as Elvira had never endured since she was a
mere child! Allen looking almost too blissful for this world, and
Elvira with eyes glistening with tears as she cried, "O Mother Carey,
you never told me how altered he was, I never knew how horrible I had
been till I saw how ill he looks! What can we do for him?"
"You are doing everything, my darling," said Allen.
"He of course thinks her as irresponsible as if she had been hanging
up by the hair all this time in a giant's larder," whispered Babie to
Armine.
But Elvira was really unhappy about the worn, faded air that made
Allen look much older than his twenty-nine years warranted. The poor
girl's nerves proved to have been much disturbed; she besought
Barbara to sleep with her, and was haunted by fears of pursuit and
capture, and Gilbert claiming her after all. She kept on starting,
clutching at Babie, and requiring to be soothed till far on into the
night, and then she slept so soundly that no one had the heart to
wake her.
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