The difficulty
was to see him without his father's knowledge. At last she
determined to write to him, and she made her son-in-law address the
envelope and mark it private. This is what she said:-
'DEAR SIR,--Although unbeknown to you, I take the liberty of telling
you as M. H. is alivin' here with me, and somebody else as I think
you ought to see, but perhaps I'd better have a word or two with you
myself, if not quite ill-convenient to you, and maybe you'll be kind
enough to say how that's to be done to your obedient, humble servant,
'MRS CAFFYN.'
She thought this very diplomatic, inasmuch as nobody but Frank could
possibly suspect what the letter meant. It went to Stoke Newington,
but, alas! he was in Germany, and poor Mrs Caffyn had to wait a week
before she received a reply. Frank of course understood it.
Although he had thought about Madge continually, he had become
calmer. He saw, it is true, that there was no stability in his
position, and that he could not possibly remain where he was. Had
Madge been the commonest of the common, and his relationship to her
the commonest of the common, he could not permit her to cast herself
loose from him for ever and take upon herself the whole burden of his
misdeed. But he did not know what to do, and, as successive
considerations and reconsiderations ended in nothing, and the
distractions of a foreign country were so numerous, Madge had for a
time been put aside, like a huge bill which we cannot pay, and which
staggers us.
Pages:
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136