"
"Come now," said the banker, hopefully, "if we must face this
thing, we must. The probabilities are that it will turn out as
Hobart says. At worst it can only be a sad interruption and
episode. Hobart will be better satisfied in the end if he does
what he now thinks his duty."
"Yours is the right view," assented the young man, firmly. "I
shall take the midnight train, and telegraph as soon as I have
seen my cousin and the hospital surgeon."
He went home and hastily made his preparations; then, with valise
in hand, returned to the Kembles'. The old people bade him
Godspeed on his journey, and considerately left him with his
affianced.
"Hobart," Helen entreated, as they were parting, "be more than
ordinarily prudent. Do not take any risks, even the most trivial,
unless you feel you must. Perhaps I'm weak and foolish, but I'm
possessed with a strange, nervous dread. This sudden call of duty--for
so I suppose I must look upon it--seems so inopportune;" and she hid
her tears on his shoulder.
"You are taking it much too seriously, darling," he said, gently
drawing her closer to him.
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