"
She looked miserable enough, and still received the stab of her guest's
magisterial tongue like an affliction from heaven.
"I had also become infected with this imputation," continued Duff
Salter. "All things around you looked sinister for a season. A kind
Providence has dispelled these black shadows, and I see you now the
victim of an immeasurable mistake. Your weakness and another's obstinacy
have almost ruined you. I shall save you with a cruel hand; let the
remorse be his who hoped to outlive society and its natural suspicions
by a mere absence."
"I will not let you upbraid him," spoke Agnes Wilt. "My weakness was the
whole mistake."
"Agnes," said the grave, bearded man, "you must walk through Kensington
to-morrow with me in the sight of the whole world."
She looked up and around a moment, and staggered toward a sofa, but
would have fallen had not Duff Salter caught her in his arms and placed
her there with tender strength. He whispered in her ear:
"Courage, little _mother_!"
CHAPTER VIII.
A REAL ROOF-TREE.
Ringing the bell at the low front step of a two-story brick dwelling,
Duff Salter was admitted by Mr. Knox Van de Lear, the proprietor, a
tall, plain, commonplace man, who scarcely bore one feature of his
venerable father.
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