The mother who has to see a beloved daughter's silent
suffering, well knowing another girl to be, however indirectly, the
cause of it, sees all manner of other iniquities in that other girl.
Kind, charitable and gentle was Mrs. Dade, a wise mother, too, as well
as most loving, but she could look with neither kindness nor charity on
Miss Flower. She had held her peace; allowed no word of censure or
criticism to escape her when the women were discussing that young lady;
but all the more vehement was her distrust, because thus pent up and
repressed. With the swiftness of feminine thought, for no man had yet
suspected, she fathomed the secret of the trader's sudden going; and,
carried away by the excitement of the moment and the belief that none
but her husband could hear, she had made that startling announcement.
And her intuition was unerring. Nanette Flower was indeed gone.
Yet for nearly an hour she stood alone in her conviction. Her husband
quickly cautioned silence, and, going forth, gave instructions to the
couriers that sent them speeding for the Rawlins road. But at seven
o'clock Mrs. Hay herself appeared and asked to see the general, who was
taking at the moment his accustomed bracer, tonic and stimulant,--the
only kind he was ever known to use--a cold bath.
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