"Well, Hannah, well, if such be your final determination, you will allow
me at least to do something towards expediting your marriage. I can
advance such a sum to Reuben Gray as will enable him to marry, and take
you and all his own brothers and sisters to the rich lands of the West,
where, instead of being encumbrances, they will be great helps to him;
for there is to be found much work for every pair of hands, young or
old, male or female," said the young man, not displeased, perhaps, to
provide for his wife's poor relations at a distance from which they
would not be likely ever to enter his sphere.
Hannah reflected for a moment and then said: "I thank you very much for that offer, Mr. Brudenell. It was the wisest
and kindest, both for yourself and us, that you could have made. And I
think that if we could see our way through repaying the advance, we
would gratefully accept it."
"Never trouble yourself about the repayment! Talk to Gray, and then,
when my mother has gone, send him up to talk to me," said Herman.
To all this Nora said nothing. She sat silently, with her head resting
upon her hand, and a heavy weight at her heart, such as she always felt
when their future was spoken of. To her inner vision a heavy cloud that
would not disperse always rested on that future.
Thus the matter rested for the present.
Herman continued his daily visits to the sisters, and longed impatiently
for the time when he should feel free to acknowledge his beautiful young
peasant-wife and place her at the head of his princely establishment.
These daily visits of the young heir to the poor sisters attracted no
general attention. The hut on the hill was so remote from any road or
any dwelling-house that few persons passed near it, and fewer still
entered its door.
It was near the middle of December, when Mrs. Brudenell was busy with
her last preparations for her removal, that the first rumor of Herman's
visits to the hut reached her.
She was in the housekeeper's room, superintending in person the
selection of certain choice pots of domestic sweetmeats from the family
stores to be taken to the town-house, when Mrs. Spicer, who was
attending her, said: "If you please, ma'am, there's Jem Morris been waiting in the kitchen
all the morning to see you."
"Ah! What does he want? A job, I suppose. Well, tell him to come in
here," said the lady carelessly, as she scrutinized the label upon a jar
of red currant jelly.