"What does she mean? What letter? Who is Dr. Richards?" Hugh asked, his
face a purplish red, and contrasting strikingly with the one of ashen
hue still resting on his shoulder.
Mrs. Worthington explained as well as she could, and Hugh went on: "Old Mrs. Richards would, of course, question Adah, and as Adah has
some foolish scruples about the truth, she would be very apt to let
the cat out of the bag.
"We left Saratoga a week ago--old lady Richards wanted to go to
Terrace Hill a while and show me to Anna, who, it seems, is a kind
of family oracle. After counting the little gold eagles in my
purse, I said perhaps I'd go for a few days, though I dreaded it
terribly, for the doctor had not yet bound himself fast, and I did
not know what the result of those three old maid sisters, sitting
on me, would be. Old lady was quite happy in prospect of going
home, when one day a letter came from Anna. I happened to have a
headache, and was lying on madam's bed, when the dinner bell
happened to ring. I just peeped into the letter, feeling like
stealing sheep, but being amply rewarded by the insight I obtained
into the family secrets.
"They are poorer than I supposed, but that does not matter,
position is what I want, and that they can give me. Anna, it seems,
has an income of her own, and, generous soul that she is, gives it
out to her mother. She sent fifty dollars in the letter, and in
referring to it, said, 'Much as I might enjoy it, dear mother, I
cannot afford to come where you are, I can pay your bills for some
time longer, if you really think the water a benefit, but my
presence would just double the expense. Then, if brother does
marry, I wish to surprise him with a handsome set of pearls for his
bride, and I am economizing to do so.'" (Note by 'Lina)--"Isn't she
a clever old soul? Don't she deserve a better sister-in-law than I
shall make, and won't I find the way to her purse often?"
Hugh groaned aloud, and the letter dropped from his hand.
"Mother," he gasped, "it must not be. 'Lina shall not thrust herself
upon them. This Anna shall not be so cruelly deceived. I don't care a
picayune for the doctor or the old lady. They are much like 'Lina, I
reckon, but this Anna awakens my sympathy. I mean to warn her."
Hugh read on, feeling as if he, too, were guilty, thus to know what
sweet Anna Richards had intended only for her mother's eye.
"'From some words you have dropped, I fancy you are not quite
satisfied with brother's choice--that Miss Worthington does not
suit you in all respects, and you wish me to see her. Dear mother,
John marries for himself, not for us. I have got so I can drive
myself out in the little pony phaeton which Miss Johnson was so
kind as to leave for my benefit. Darling Alice, how much I miss
her. She always did me good in more ways than one. She found the
germ of faith which I did not know I possessed. She encouraged me
to go on. She told me of Him who will not break the bruised reed.
She left me, as I trust, a better woman than she found me. Precious
Alice! how I loved her. Oh, if she could have fancied John, as at
one time I hoped she would.' (Second note by 'Lina.) "How that made me gnash my teeth, for I had
suspected that I was only playing second fiddle for Alice Johnson,
'darling, precious Alice,' as Anna calls her."