"Has my pale little girl a bloom?" repeated Moodie with a kind of slow
wonder. "Priscilla with a bloom in her cheeks! Ah, I am afraid I
shall not know my little girl. And is she happy?"
"Just as happy as a bird," answered Hollingsworth.
"Then, gentlemen," said our guest apprehensively, "I don't think it
well for me to go any farther. I crept hitherward only to ask about
Priscilla; and now that you have told me such good news, perhaps I can
do no better than to creep back again. If she were to see this old
face of mine, the child would remember some very sad times which we
have spent together. Some very sad times, indeed! She has forgotten
them, I know,--them and me,--else she could not be so happy, nor have a
bloom in her cheeks. Yes--yes--yes," continued he, still with the same
torpid utterance; "with many thanks to you, Mr. Hollingsworth, I will
creep back to town again."
"You shall do no such thing, Mr. Moodie," said Hollingsworth bluffly.
"Priscilla often speaks of you; and if there lacks anything to make her
cheeks bloom like two damask roses, I'll venture to say it is just the
sight of your face. Come,--we will go and find her."
"Mr. Hollingsworth!" said the old man in his hesitating way.
"Well," answered Hollingsworth.
"Has there been any call for Priscilla?" asked Moodie; and though his
face was hidden from us, his tone gave a sure indication of the
mysterious nod and wink with which he put the question. "You know, I
think, sir, what I mean."
"I have not the remotest suspicion what you mean, Mr. Moodie," replied
Hollingsworth; "nobody, to my knowledge, has called for Priscilla,
except yourself. But come; we are losing time, and I have several
things to say to you by the way."
"And, Mr. Hollingsworth!" repeated Moodie.
"Well, again!" cried my friend rather impatiently. "What now?"
"There is a lady here," said the old man; and his voice lost some of
its wearisome hesitation. "You will account it a very strange matter
for me to talk about; but I chanced to know this lady when she was but
a little child. If I am rightly informed, she has grown to be a very
fine woman, and makes a brilliant figure in the world, with her beauty,
and her talents, and her noble way of spending her riches. I should
recognize this lady, so people tell me, by a magnificent flower in her
hair."