"She is not dead, you say; but do you think-does any-body think she'll
die? Your telegram said 'dying.'"
Maddy was not to be deceived, and thinking it best to be frank with
her, Guy told her that the physician, whom he had taken pains to see
on his way to the depot, had said there was no hope. Old age and an
impaired constitution precluded the possibility of recovery, but he
trusted she might live till the young lady came.
"She must--she will! Oh, grandma, why did I ever leave her?" and
burying her face in her hands. Maddy cried passionately, while the
last three years of her Life passed in rapid review before her
mind--years which she had spent in luxurious ease, leaving her
grandmother to toil in the humble cottage, and die at the last, it
might be, without one parting word for her.
The feeling that perhaps she had been guilty of neglect, was the
bitterest of all, and Maddy wept on, unmindful of Guy's attempts to
soothe and quiet her. At last, as she heard a clock in the adjoining
room strike eight, she started up exclaiming "I have stayed too long.
I must go now. Is there any conveyance here?"
"But, Maddy," Guy rejoined, "you cannot go to-night. The roads between
here and Honedale are one unbroken snow bank. It would take hours to
break through; besides you are too tired. You need rest, and must come
with me to Aikenside, where you are expected, for when I found how
late the train would be, I sent back word to have your room and
parlors warmed, and a nice hot supper to be ready for us. You'll
surely go with me, if I think best."
Guy's manner was more like a lover than a friend, but Maddy was in no
state to remark it. She only felt an intense desire to go home, and
turning a deaf ear to all he could urge, replied: "You don't know how
dear grandma is to me, or you would not ask me to stay. She's all the
mother I ever knew, and I must go. Think, would you stay if the one
you loved best was dying?"
"But the one I love best is not dying, so I can reason clearly,
Maddy."
Here Guy checked himself, and listened while Maddy asked again if
there was no conveyance there as usual.
"None but mine," said Guy, while Maddy continued faintly: "And you are afraid it will kill your horses?"