possessions, except some clothes, seeds, roots, and tools, which I felt free to take with me to Canada. I was going to leave you."
"To leave me? To leave me?"
Her little fingers fastened on his arm: she spoke and looked affrighted.
"Not now—not now. Examine my face; yes, look at me well: is the despair of parting legible thereon?"
She looked into an illuminated countenance, whose characters were all beaming, though the page itself was dusk: this face, potent in the majesty of its traits, shed down on her hope, fondness, delight.
"Will the repeal do you good; much good—immediate good?" she inquired.
"The repeal of the Orders in Council saves me. Now I shall not turn bankrupt; now I shall not give up business; now I shall not leave England; now I shall be no longer poor; now I can pay my debts; now all the cloth I have in my warehouses will be taken off my hands, and commissions given me for much more: this day lays for my fortunes a broad, firm foundation; on which, for the first time in my life, I can securely build."
Caroline devoured his words: she held his hand in hers; she drew a long breath.
"You are saved? Your heavy difficulties are lifted?"
"They are lifted: I breathe: I can act."
"At last! Oh! Providence is kind. Thank Him, Robert."
"I do thank Providence."
