She had a sort of dread at the idea of that grim
face lowering over the sick man's bed.
No one was present at their first interview. Ralph was more moved than
he cared to show at his old friend's altered looks and ways; but he gave
him the account of his search after the lost letter conscientiously,
without sparing a single detail. "It must have gone hard with Guy," he
remarked to me, thoughtfully, as he came away. "He's very far from right
yet. When I told him what Willis had done, I made sure he would be very
angry. He only said, 'Poor wretch! He acted under orders, and did not
know what mischief he was doing.' He wants rousing; but I am sure I
don't know what is to do it."
Forgiveness and forgetfulness of injuries seemed to that hard old
heathen the most dangerous sign of bodily and mental debility.
He came almost daily after that, and I think his rough ways, and sharp,
sarcastic remarks acted on Livingstone as a sort of tonic--bitter, but
strengthening.
A few days later Mrs. Vavasour called. She, too, saw Guy alone. She
surely had a message to deliver, or she would not have ventured on an
interview which must have been so painful to both. It did not last long;
but when she came down, her thick black veil was drawn closely over her
face, and that evening Guy was denied to Ralph Mohun.
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