But Guy persuaded him,
and when he heard that Agnes was going, too, he consented, for he had
faith in Agnes as a protector. Maddy had never told him of the scene
which followed that lady's return from Saratoga. Indeed, Maddy never
told anything but good of Aikenside or its inmates, and so Mrs. Agnes
came in for a share of the old people's gratitude, while even Uncle
Joseph, hearing daily a prayer for the "young madam," as grandpa
termed her, learned to pray for her himself, coupling her name with
that of Sarah, and asking in his crazy way that God would "forgive
Sarah" first, and then "bless the madam--the madam--the madam."
A few days before Maddy's departure, grandpa went up to see "the
madam;" anxious to know something more than hearsay about a person to
whose care his child was to be partially intrusted. Agnes was in her
room when told who wanted to see her. Starting quickly, she turned so
deadly white that Maddy, who brought the message, flew to her side,
asking in much alarm, what was the matter.
"Only a little faint. It will soon pass off," Agnes said, and then,
dismissing Maddy, she tried to compose herself sufficiently to pass
the ordeal she so much dreaded, and from which there was no possible
escape.
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