Letty felt that the taking
of that money would be the opening of a gulf to divide her and
Tom for ever.
The moment Godfrey was out of the room she cast herself on the
floor, and sobbed as if her heart must break. But her sobs were
tearless. And, oh, agony of agonies! unsought came the
conviction, and she could not send it away--to this had sunk her
lofty idea of her Tom!--that he would have had her take the
money! More than once or twice, in the ill-humors that followed a
forced hilarity, he had forgotten his claims to being a gentleman
so far as--not exactly to reproach her with having brought him to
poverty--but to remind her that, if she was poor, she was no
poorer than she had been when dependent on the charity of a
distant relation!
The baby began to cry. She rose and took him from the sofa where
Godfrey had laid him when he was getting out the pocket-book,
held him fast to her bosom, as if by laying their two aching
lives together they might both be healed, and, rocking him to and
fro, said to herself, for the first time, that her trouble was
greater than she could bear. "O baby! baby! baby!" she cried, and
her tears streamed on the little wan face. But, as she sat with
him in her arms, the blessed sleep came, and the storm sank to a
calm.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
RELIEF.
It was dark, utterly dark, when she woke. For a minute she could
not remember where she was.
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