There! he had done it--whether it was wise or foolish--he had done
it! but he was aware that the question as to its wisdom came into his
mind the instant that the words were said past recall.
She hid her face in her hands.
"Oh! Mr. Gibson," she said; and then, a little to his surprise, and a
great deal to her own, she burst into hysterical tears: it was such
a wonderful relief to feel that she need not struggle any more for a
livelihood.
"My dear--my dearest," said he, trying to soothe her with word and
caress; but, just at the moment, uncertain what name he ought to
use. After her sobbing had abated a little, she said herself, as if
understanding his difficulty,--
"Call me Hyacinth--your own Hyacinth. I can't bear 'Clare,' it does
so remind me of being a governess, and those days are all past now."
"Yes; but surely no one can have been more valued, more beloved than
you have been in this family at least."
"Oh, yes! they have been very good. But still one has always had to
remember one's position."
"We ought to tell Lady Cumnor," said he, thinking, perhaps, more of
the various duties which lay before him in consequence of the step he
had just taken, than of what his future bride was saying.
"You'll tell her, won't you?" said she, looking up in his face with
beseeching eyes. "I always like other people to tell her things, and
then I can see how she takes them."
"Certainly! I will do whatever you wish. Shall we go and see if she
is awake now?"
"No! I think not. I had better prepare her. You will come to-morrow,
won't you? and you will tell her then."
"Yes; that will be best. I ought to tell Molly first. She has the
right to know. I do hope you and she will love each other dearly."
"Oh, yes! I'm sure we shall. Then you'll come to-morrow and tell Lady
Cumnor? And I'll prepare her."
"I don't see what preparation is necessary; but you know best, my
dear. When can we arrange for you and Molly to meet?"
Just then a servant came in, and the pair started apart.
"Her ladyship is awake, and wishes to see Mr. Gibson."
They both followed the man upstairs; Mrs. Kirkpatrick trying hard
to look as if nothing had happened, for she particularly wished
"to prepare" Lady Cumnor; that is to say, to give her version of Mr.
Gibson's extreme urgency, and her own coy unwillingness.
But Lady Cumnor had observant eyes in sickness as well as in health.
She had gone to sleep with the recollection of the passage in her
husband's letter full in her mind, and, perhaps, it gave a direction
to her wakening ideas.