After all, it isn't certain but that
Ida will come back. We are troubling ourselves too soon."
"At any rate," said the cooper, "there is no doubt that it is our
duty to take every means to secure Ida if we can. Of course, if her
mother insists upon keeping her, we can't say anything; but we ought
to be sure, before we yield her up, that such is the case."
"What do you mean, Timothy?" asked Mrs. Crump, with anxious
interest.
"I don't know as I ought to mention it," said her husband. "Very
likely there isn't anything in it, and it would only make you feel
more anxious."
"You have already aroused my anxiety," said his wife. "I should feel
better if you would tell me."
"Then I will," said the cooper. "I have sometimes doubted," he
continued, lowering his voice, "whether Ida's mother really sent for
her."
"And the letter?" queried Mrs. Crump, looking less surprised than he
supposed she would.
"I thought--mind it is only a guess on my part--that Mrs. Hardwick
might have got somebody to write it for her."
"It is very singular," murmured Mrs. Crump, in a tone of
abstraction.
"What is singular?"
"Why, the very same thought occurred to me. Somehow, I couldn't help
feeling a little suspicious of Mrs. Hardwick, though perhaps
unjustly. But what object could she have in obtaining possession of
Ida?"
"That I cannot conjecture; but I have come to one determination.
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