Dick promised this readily, though he was a
little puzzled at her earnestness; and then she bade him good-bye and
God bless him, and prayed that he might grow up to be such another man
as his father had been. So the children and the Corporal returned to
the Hall thoughtful and subdued, though the children hardly knew why.
Two days later, early in the morning, Dick and the Corporal drove off
to meet the coach. Little Elsie stood on the steps crying silently,
but Dick was so much excited at the prospect of the journey, that he
held up bravely, and fluttered his handkerchief out of the window as
long as the house was in sight. So Lady Eleanor and Elsie waited until
the handkerchief could be seen no more, and then went in sadly
together. Lessons were a heavy task that morning; and when they were
over and Elsie was gone out, Lady Eleanor felt lonely and depressed and
out of heart with everything. She was roused by the sound of a horse
on the gravel; and presently Colonel Fitzdenys came in to say that he
had seen Dick off by the coach, and that the boy was in good spirits.
Lady Eleanor never felt more thankful for his presence than on that
morning; but they had not talked for very long, when a maid-servant
came in with a scared face to say that the strange woman from the moor
was come, and begged, if she might, to see her Ladyship directly.
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