" "I will
come," she said, rising and supporting herself by the heavy, carved arm
of the great chair.
"No, no" he said. "Sit down and wait here." He did not want her to hear
the stealthy tread of the undertaker's men, to meet the coffin which
they were going to bring downstairs and place in the hall. "I will
bring him in here. Is there anything you would like me to say to him,
my dear?" he asked, and spoke with a certain hesitancy; for as yet he
had not spoken of her future, feeling that her grief was too recent,
too sacred, to permit of the obtrusion of material and worldly matters.
"To say to him?" she repeated, in a low, dull voice, as if she did not
understand.
"Yes," he said. "I did not know whether you had formed any plan,
whether"--he hesitated again, "you had thought of going--of paying a
visit--to these relations of yours. He lives in the north of London,
and has a wife and son and daughter, as you know."
Ida passed her hand across her brow, trying to remember.
"Ah, yes," she said at last, "I remember you told me about them. I
never heard of them before--until now. Why should I go to them? Do they
want me? Have they asked me?"
Mr.
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