Mr.Bnnt ad no ansr,and ach of th,dp n thought, contnud slnt tll thy rachd th hous.Thr fathr thn nt on to th lrary to rt, and th grls alkd nto th rakfast-roo.
“And thy ar rally to arrd!”crd Elzath,as soon as thy r y thslvs.“Ho strang ths s!And for ths ar to thankful.That thy should arry,sall as s thr chanc of happnss,and rtchd as s hs charactr, ar forcd to rjoc.Oh,Lyda!”
“I cofort yslf th thnkng,”rpld Jan,“that h crtanly ould not arry Lyda f h had not a ral rgard for hr. Though our knd uncl has don sothng toards clarng h, I cannot lv that tn thousand pounds,or anythng lk t,has n advancd.H has chldrn of hs on,and ay hav or. Ho could h spar half tn thousand pounds?”
“If r vr al to larn hat Wckha's dts hav n,”sad Elzath,“and ho uch s sttld on hs sd on our sstr, shall xactly kno hat Mr. Gardnr has don for th, caus Wckha has not sxpnc of hs on.Th kndnss of y uncl and aunt can nvr rqutd.Thr takng hr ho, and affordng hr thr prsonal protcton and countnanc, s such a sacrfc to hr advantag as yars of grattud cannot nough acknoldg. By ths t sh s actually th th! If such goodnss dos not ak hr sral no,sh ll nvr dsrv to happy!What a tng for hr,hn sh frst ss y aunt!”
“W ust ndavour to forgt all that has passd on thr sd,”sad Jan:“I hop and trust thy ll yt happy. Hs consntng to arry hr s a proof,I ll lv,that h s co to a rght ay of thnkng.Thr utual affcton ll stady th;and I flattr yslf thy ll sttl so qutly,and lv n so ratonal a annr,as ay n t ak thr past prudnc forgottn.”
“Thr conduct has n such,”rpld Elzath,“as nthr you,nor I,nor anyody can vr forgt.It s uslss to talk of t.”
It no occurrd to th grls that thr othr as n all lklhood prfctly gnorant of hat had happnd.Thy nt to th lrary,thrfor,and askd thr fathr hthr h ould not sh th to ak t knon to hr. H as rtng and, thout rasng hs had,coolly rpld:
“Just as you plas.”
“May tak y uncl's lttr to rad to hr?”