the
spring would come, and Aunt Emma would be stronger and able to walk
about; they would be able to go and see Aunt Martha sometimes.
Her thoughts dwelt lovingly on Aunt Martha and Dick. She saw them
seldom now, the storms and the rough roads kept Aunt Martha at home,
and Huldah could not leave her Aunt Emma.

So busy was she with her thoughts that she forgot all about Miss
Rose's promised piece of news, until, when the tea was over, Miss
Rose spoke of it again.

"You must light the lamp now, brownie. I want to talk to your aunt.
There is someone wanting to see her,--someone that she wants to see,
I think."

Emma Smith turned quickly, an eager light flashing over her face.
"Is it--Tom?" she asked, excitedly.

"Yes--your husband. He has behaved so well he got his discharge as
soon as it was possible, and he has come in search of you."

Suddenly the light and eagerness died out of her face. "Charlie--and
the van!" she cried, growing white to the lips. "I've got to tell
him,--he'll never forgive me." Her lips quivered piteously.

"He knows," said Miss Rose, soothingly. "I told him. I thought it
better to explain quickly what had happened, and not let him be
expecting to find them too."

She did not tell of the scene there had been when first he had heard
of the loss, nor the difficulty they had had in persuading him to see
his wife, and be kind to her. "I don't want her; 'twas the horse and
van I wanted," he said, cruelly.

He was not really as cruel, though, as he appeared. He seemed quite
touched when he heard of his wife's starving state when she came in
search of Huldah, and of her condition now, and expressed a desire to
see her. "I won't say nothing to upset her," he promised, when they
seemed to hesitate.

Huldah's face had turned even whiter than Emma's, when she heard who
was near, and what he wanted, her fear of him had been so increased
since he carried her away by force that night. But when she saw how
eager her aunt was to see him, she did try to overcome her fears.

Within a few moments of Miss Rose's telling of her "news," he was
there, in their midst. To pale, trembling Huldah, whose every nerve
had been set quivering by the mere sound of his step on the stair, he
threw only a cool nod, as, awkwardly enough, he made his way to his
wife's bedside, and sat down beside her.

"I hear you'm bad," he said, coolly, but it was plain that her
altered appearance shocked him. Every now a