'I'm sure I can't say, sir. It's not for me to judge. The illness

seems so much more on the mind than on the body.' Mr. Hale looked infinitely distressed.

'You had better take mamma her tea while it is hot, Dixon,' said

Margaret, in a tone of quiet authority.

'Oh! I beg your pardon, miss! My thoughts was otherwise occupied

in thinking of my poor----of Mrs. Hale.' 'Papa!' said Margaret, 'it is this suspense that is bad for you

both. Of course, mamma must feel your change of opinions: we

can't help that,' she continued, softly; 'but now the course is

clear, at least to a certain point. And I think, papa, that I

could get mamma to help me in planning, if you could tell me what

to plan for. She has never expressed any wish in any way, and

only thinks of what can't be helped. Are we to go straight to

Milton? Have you taken a house there?' 'No,' he replied. 'I suppose we must go into lodgings, and look

about for a house.

'And pack up the furniture so that it can be left at the railway

station, till we have met with one?' 'I suppose so. Do what you think best. Only remember, we shall

have much less money to spend.' They had never had much superfluity, as Margaret knew. She felt

that it was a great weight suddenly thrown upon her shoulders.

Four months ago, all the decisions she needed to make were what

dress she would wear for dinner, and to help Edith to draw out

the lists of who should take down whom in the dinner parties at

home. Nor was the household in which she lived one that called

for much decision. Except in the one grand case of Captain

Lennox's offer, everything went on with the regularity of

clockwork. Once a year, there was a long discussion between her

aunt and Edith as to whether they should go to the Isle of Wight,

abroad, or to Scotland; but at such times Margaret herself was

secure of drifting, without any exertion of her own, into the

quiet harbour of home. Now, since that day when Mr. Lennox came,

and startled her into a decision, every day brought some

question, momentous to her, and to those whom she loved, to be

settled.

Her father went up after tea to sit with his wife. Margaret

remained alone in the drawing-room. Suddenly she took a candle

and went into her father's study for a great atlas, and lugging

it back into the drawing-room, she began to pore over the map of

England. She was ready to look up brightly when her father came

down stairs.




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