Bob was
beside himself with joy. He dined with Kate and me, and as I watched him
my heart almost stopped beating at the thought--"if anything should happen
to upset his plans!" His happiness was pathetic to witness. He was like a
child. He threw away all the reserve of the past three months and laughed
and was grave by turns. After dinner, as we sat in the library over our
coffee, he leaned over to my wife and said:
"Katherine Randolph, you and Jim don't know what misery I have been in for
three months, and now--will to-morrow never come, so I may get into the
whirl and clean up this deal and send that girl back to her father with
the money! I wanted her to telegraph the judge that things looked like she
would win out and bring back the relief, but she would not hear of it. She
is a marvellous woman. She has not turned a hair to-day. I don't think her
pulse is up an eighth to-night. She has not sent home a word of
encouragement since she has been here, more than to tell her father she is
doing well with her stories. It seems they both agreed that the only way
to work the thing out was 'whole hog or none,' and that she was to say
nothing until she could herself bring the word 'saved' or 'lost.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52