CHAPTER XLI.

NO WEDDING ON THE TWENTIETH.

Charlotte was quite right in saying that now she could cry; a great
tension had been removed, an immediate agony lightened. From the time
she had left the doctor's presence until she had met Sandy Wilson, most
intolerable had been her feelings. She would sink all pride when she saw
him; for her father's sake, she would plead for mercy; but knowing
nothing of the character of the man, how could she tell that she would
be successful? How could she tell that he might not harden his heart
against her plea? When she left him, however, she knew that her cause
was won. Charlotte Home was to be the arbitrator of her fate; she had
never in all her life seen such a hunger for money in any eyes as she
had done in Charlotte's, and yet she felt a moral certainty that with
Charlotte she was safe. In the immediate relief of this she could cry,
and those tears were delicious to her. Returning from her drive, and in
the solitude of her own room, she indulged in them, weeping on until no
more tears would flow. They took the maddening pressure of heart and
brain, and after them she felt strong and even calm. She had washed her
face and smoothed her hair, and though she could not at once remove all
trace of the storm through which she had just passed, she still looked
better than she had done at breakfast that morning, when a tap came to
her door, and Ward, her maid, waited outside.

"If you please, Miss Harman, the dressmaker has called again. Will you
have the wedding dress fitted now?"

At the same instant and before Charlotte could reply, a footman appeared
at the head of the stairs--"Mr. Hinton had arrived and was waiting for
Miss Harman, in her own sitting-room."

"Say, I will be with him directly," she answered to the man, then she
turned to Ward. "I will send you with a message to the dressmaker this
evening; tell her I am engaged now."

The two messengers left, and Charlotte turned back into her room. She
had to go through another fire. Well! the sooner it was over the better.
She scarcely would give herself time for any thought as she ran quickly
down the stairs and along the familiar corridor, and in a moment found
herself in Hinton's presence. They had not met since yesterday morning,
when they had parted in apparent coldness; but Hinton had long forgotten
it, and now, when he saw her face, a great terror of pity and love came
over him.

"My darling! my own darling!" he