When Carry said that it would be better than this that she should go
again, Fanny told her to remember that evil things could not be cured
in a day. With the mother that afternoon was, on the whole, a happy
time, for she sat with her lost child's hand within her own. Late in
the evening, when the miller returned to his rest, Carry moved about
the house softly, resuming some old task to which in former days she
had been accustomed; and as she did so the miller's eyes would wander
round the room after her; but he did not speak to her on that day,
nor did he pronounce her name.
Two other circumstances which bear upon our story occurred at the
mill that afternoon. After their tea, at which the miller did not
make his appearance, Fanny Brattle put on her bonnet and ran across
the fields to the vicarage. After all the trouble that Mr. Fenwick
had taken, it was, she thought, necessary that he should be told what
had happened.
"That is the best news," said he, "that I have heard this many a
day."
"I knew that you would be glad to hear that the poor child has found
her home again." Then Fanny told the whole story,--how Carry had
escaped from Salisbury, being driven to do so by fear of the law
proceedings at which she had been summoned to attend, how her father
had sworn that he would not yield, and how at length he had yielded.
When Fanny told the Vicar and Mrs. Fenwick that the old man had as
yet not spoken to his daughter, they both desired her to be of good
cheer.
"That will come, Fanny," said Mrs. Fenwick, "if she once be allowed
to sit at table with him."
"Of course it will come," said the Vicar. "In a week or two you will
find that she is his favourite."
"She was the favourite with us all, sir, once," said Fanny, "and may
God send that it shall be so again. A winsome thing like her is made
to be loved. You'll come and see her, Mr. Fenwick, some day?" Mr.
Fenwick promised that he would, and Fanny returned to the mill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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