May I beg that you will
communicate my request, in the strictest confidence, to the medical men
in attendance? They will understand, and you will understand, the
vital importance I attach to this interview when I tell you that I have
arranged to defer to it all other business claims on me; and that I
hold myself in readiness to obey your summons at any hour of the day or
night."
In those terms the letter ended. Miss Garth read it twice over. At the
second reading the request which the lawyer now addressed to her, and
the farewell words which had escaped Mr. Clare's lips the day before,
connected themselves vaguely in her mind. There was some other serious
interest in suspense, known to Mr. Pendril and known to Mr. Clare,
besides the first and foremost interest of Mrs. Vanstone's recovery.
Whom did it affect? The children? Were they threatened by some new
calamity which their mother's signature might avert? What did it mean?
Did it mean that Mr. Vanstone had died without leaving a will?
In her distress and confusion of mind Miss Garth was incapable of
reasoning with herself, as she might have reasoned at a happier time.
She hastened to the antechamber of Mrs.
Pages:
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187