Something of tender relaxation in his face struck
home to her heart. She said, "It is--oh, sir! can you be Peter?"
and trembled from head to foot. In a moment he was round the table
and had her in his arms, sobbing the tearless cries of old age. I
brought her a glass of wine, for indeed her colour had changed so
as to alarm me and Mr Peter too. He kept saying, "I have been too
sudden for you, Matty--I have, my little girl."
I proposed that she should go at once up into the drawing-room and
lie down on the sofa there. She looked wistfully at her brother,
whose hand she had held tight, even when nearly fainting; but on
his assuring her that he would not leave her, she allowed him to
carry her upstairs.
I thought that the best I could do was to run and put the kettle on
the fire for early tea, and then to attend to the shop, leaving the
brother and sister to exchange some of the many thousand things
they must have to say. I had also to break the news to Martha, who
received it with a burst of tears which nearly infected me. She
kept recovering herself to ask if I was sure it was indeed Miss
Matty's brother, for I had mentioned that he had grey hair, and she
had always heard that he was a very handsome young man. Something
of the same kind perplexed Miss Matty at tea-time, when she was
installed in the great easy-chair opposite to Mr Jenkyns in order
to gaze her fill.
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