A Letter of Credit

uld she be the black sheep of the story he had heard? Mrs. Carpenter might labour under a mistake, might she not? Yet facts are said to be stubborn things, and some facts were hard for the t

onths at a watering place, or at several watering places. Mea

e sick woman herself, and the extravagant delight and pride of Rotha. She said she was sure her mother would get well now. But her moth

d to-morrow," he remarked. "Woul

land?" she

rk, or nearly; across the bay. You can becom

t fam

its b

ry much, Mr. Digby, if it

comes from the Park in

rning's drive; she tried in vain to brighten her up. Again and again Mrs. Carpenter's

ng the matter?" sh

ing of you,

hink of me! W

should ever come over your g

adows? I am going to be alw

s impos

hy

the way of

le come to

At som

es. There is no shadow over me now, at any rate.

ver be well

re it comes from; I would scare it away. Mother, mother, look, look!- see

ntense admiration is no

s, those are,"

Shetland

t come from

never grow

N

jol

is a boy's wo

r a boy, why isn'

boy. But a lady is bound to be more p

an a gen

me way

Right is right, and wrong is wrong

hen she should be left motherless? Rotha perceived the deep concern which gathered in her mother's eyes again

said, when soon after she and her friend were on

swer; and Rotha's ne

new what she was worr

ink I

I know wha

But you

had never seen such an extent of water before, she had no idea of the real look of the waves; a hundred thousand questions came crowding and surging up in her mind, like the broken billows down below her. In her mind; they got no further; merely to have them rise was a delight; she

dy could paint w

es

hanging, every instant; it w

done, if one is only

ow can

y take, and the colours of the different parts in any given sort of weather, until he has got them by h

her to do with it?

dows vary with every change of

y much in earnest," said R

hout being very much in earnest. The start isn'

draw, M

a li

ious education through her eyes, as they received for the first time the images

t her feast her eyes on the incoming waves and breaking surf. He himself was full of one thought, waiting for the moment when he could say to her what he had to say; but he was forced to wait a good while. He had made a mistake, he found, in choosing this precise direction fo

ght and majesty. She was drinking in pleasure, as one can at fourteen, with all the young susceptibilities fully alive and strong. Mr. Digby could not interrupt her. He threw himself down 011 a dry piece of sand, and waited; watching her, and watching with a sad sort of pleasure the everlasting rise and breaking of those curling billows. Things spiritual and material get very mixed up in

are just waiting for me," Rotha said suddenly,

ys. I am not tired,

ing pleasure in it n

g, how full the wo

er think, how full it is of pleasure. It's as ful

fe have so mu

e girl, with a ra

it is for you

id with a surpri

n here for a few minutes,

uble just now," she said; sitti

t now, or at any time; but I mus

somehow made the girl's heart beat quicker. That there was real gravity of tidings

id in answer to his que

than you hav

" she said with a curious self- re

corresponding rush of water to his eyes, Mr. Digby was fain to bow his face in the hand which rested on his knees. Neither the action nor the cause of it escaped Rotha's shrewdness and awakened sense of fear, but it silenced her at the

,-"why don't you tell me what it is?" If she was impolite,

Rotha," he answ

aid, "but it isn't true. You

you spea

-mother!" The word came out with difficulty and only

not tru

not true!" she re

child, what i

n him a pair of eyes almost wild in their intensit

e care of y

only matched by the pain with which she spok

aw how full the girl's eyes were growing, of tears just swelling and ready t

It's no use, here or anywhere

so that you may not distress your mother. She cannot bear it. Therefore she asked me to tell you, be

forgot the face of wild agony with which she looked at him. He

thi

or you. But in her love for you, she greatly dreads to see your sorrow. Do you think, Rotha,

deed, while he spoke, as if listening; but her face was white,

e, Mr. Digby," she said.

would bec

e of you, Rotha, as long

d sat motionless. Her companion would rather have seen sobs and tears; he did not know what to do with her. The soft beat and wash of the waves sounded drearily in the silence. Mr. Digby waited. Nothing but time, he knew, can cover the roughness of life's rough places with i

" he said after

ans

otha-my poor little Rotha-it is very heavy for you! But

the hand he had gently laid on h

ow, your mother will be very anxious to see

e nature, and all the self abandonment of an ungoverned nature, sobbing such sobs as shook her whole frame, and with loud weeping which could not be restrained into silence. Better it should not be, Mr. Digby thought; better she should be allow

ld after a time, as strength gave way. But it lasted fearfully long. However, at last Rotha grew quieter, and then

gather up your courage and

n in a smothered voice

k you c

uld die," sh

we have something to do in the world. You have something to do. Your mother's comfort, and even the prolonging of

said Rotha, as sh

will help the weak, if they trust h

tian," Rotha answered in t

ot let that be tr

s anothe

go, Mr. Digby

e a woman, and

n't k

e any more tears; but alas, of all the things in the world which she had been so glad to look at on the way down, she saw nothing on the way back. Driving or sailing, it was

sing, if she had had a pleasant day? Rotha choked, but managed to get out that it had been "as good as it could be." What she went through in the little hall room which served for closet and wardrobe, no one knew; but Mr. Digby, who stayed purposely till she came back again, was rea

h her. If he only knew what sort of person Mrs. Busby really was, and how much of Mrs. Carpenter's story might have two sides to it? The lady was not in the city, or he would have been tempted to go and see her at once, for the purpose of studying