"You actually ventured back to that dreadful house," she said,
looking at them gratefully.
"You see what protectors I had," said Aurelia, with a happy smile.
"Yes," said Betty, "I have been longing to say--only I cannot," for
she was almost choked by a great sob, "how very much we owe to you,
sir. I could say it better if I did not feel it so much." And she
held out her hand.
"You cannot owe to me a tithe of what I owe to your sister," said Mr.
Belamour, "and through her to you, madam. Much as nature had done for
her, never would she have been to the miserable recluse the life and
light-bringing creature she was, save for the 'sister' she taught me
to know and love, even before I saw her."
A wonderful revelation here burst on Aurelia, the at least half-married
woman, and she fled precipitately, smiling to herself in ecstasy, behind
her great fan.
Betty, never dreaming of the drift of the words, so utterly out of
the reach of love did she suppose herself, replied, composedly, "Our
Aurelia is a dear good girl, and I am thankful that through all her
trials she has so proved herself. I am glad she has been a comfort
to you, sir. She---"
"And will not you complete the cure, and render the benefit lasting?"
said Mr. Belamour, who had never let go the hand she had given him
in gratitude, and now gave it a pressure that conveyed, for the first
time, his meaning.
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