"It is
all right. Mr. Coyne have got the blinkers on. Only pass me your word
not to excite him."
"Oh no, sir, I will soothe him." And she trembled all over.
"Sally!" cried Jones.
The nurse came out of a room and held the door ajar; she whispered, "I
have prepared him, madam; he is all right."
Lady Bassett, by a great effort, kept her feet from rushing, her heart
from crying out with joy, and she entered the room. Sally closed the
door like a shot, with a delicacy one would hardly have given her
credit for, to judge from appearances.
Sir Charles stood in the middle of the room, beaming to receive her,
but restraining himself. They met: he held her to his heart; she wept
for joy and grief upon his neck. Neither spoke for a long time.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THEY were seated hand in hand, comparing notes and comforting each
other. Then Lady Bassett met with a great surprise: forgetting, or
rather not realizing, Sir Charles's sex and character, she began with a
heavy heart to play the consoler; but after he had embraced her many
times with tender rapture, and thanked God for the sight of her, lo and
behold, this doughty baronet claimed his rights of manhood, and, in
spite of his capture, his incarceration, and his malady, set to work to
console her, instead of lying down to be consoled.
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