She could not help
listening to every sound in the opposite room--the falling of a cinder,
the stealthy footfall of the watcher moving cautiously about now and
then; listening still more intently when all was silent, expecting every
moment to hear herself summoned suddenly. The sick-room and the dark
shadow of coming death brought back the thought of that bitter time when
her uncle was lying unconscious and speechless in the pretty room at
Lidford, with the wintry light shining coldly upon his stony face; while
she sat by his pillow, watching him in hopeless silent agony, waiting for
that dread change which they had told her was the only change that could
come to him on earth. The scene re-acted itself in her mind to-night,
with all the old anguish. She shut it out at last with a great effort,
and began to think of what her grandfather had said to her.
She was to be rich. She who had been a dependant upon others all her life
was to know the security and liberty that must needs go along with
wealth. She was glad of this, much more for her husband's sake than her
own. She knew that the cares which had clouded their life of late, which
had made him seem to love her less than he had loved her at first, had
their chief origin in want of money. What happiness it would be for her
to lift this burden from his life, to give him peace and security for the
years to come! Her thoughts wandered away into the bright region of
day-dreams after this, and she fancied what their lives might be without
that dull sordid trouble of pecuniary embarrassments.
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