"How did she keep up, Hugh? Is she all right?"
"Elsie, you mean? Oh, yes. I think she is all right. She did not get a
chance to fret after she left the house."
"But what detained you? I suppose you stayed to see them off, but the train
must have gone hours ago."
"Yes, I know it, Mrs. Gurney; but I--I didn't stay to see them off--I
couldn't," he added, seeing her look of surprise. "I'm a fool, I suppose,
but I couldn't stand there and see her go away without giving me one kind
word, so I drove off down the road until I could hide my folly from others'
eyes. I have driven Bob pretty hard, I'm afraid, but I have rubbed him down
well, and he will be the first to recover from this day's work."
He spoke bitterly, but openly, as any loved son might speak to a tender,
sympathizing mother, and he had found her all that during the long years he
had lived with them; and though her own son had gained, as he thought, the
one thing he longed for, he knew she would feel for his disappointment.
"It is Dexie you mean. You do not like her to be going away with Lancy. Is
that it, Hugh?"
"Yes, but that is not all.
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