And then
came the morning in August when old Mr. Bracefort had come in white and
trembling to break to her the news of Salamanca. It was well that in
those dreary days she had been obliged to look after him and give him
the comfort which he tried, but in vain, to give to her. She
remembered how, for all his courage, the old gentleman had drooped and
died after the death of his son, and how all ties with the old life
seemed to be severed, but for George Fitzdenys' letters of sympathy.
Then she recalled the arrival of Brimacott and Billy Pitt, which seemed
to mark the end of one stage of her life and the beginning of a new,
and yet to carry the last relics of the past continuously into the
present. All had been peaceful since then; the war had done its worst
for her, and her only link with Spain now lay in the messages, always
punctually delivered by old Lord Fitzdenys in person, that Captain
Fitzdenys sent his respectful service to her and hoped that she and the
children were well. She remembered how she had dreaded her first
meeting with Captain Fitzdenys after the peace, and how he seemed to
have realised that her whole life now lay in the children, and had made
friends with them at once. He had helped her through some difficulties
of business and had then rushed off to the campaign of Waterloo; and he
had come back safe and sound only to run away again after a few months
to India.
Pages:
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69