The
condition in which she found Van Berg suggested some light on the
dark problem of her life, but she only sighed deeply: "I shall
never know in this world why he does not come."
When told how Ida had taken care of her and watched till all danger
was passed, she murmured to herself, "Brave, noble Ida Mayhew! but
I may be able to reward her yet." She needed very little care,
and felt no surprise that Ida now permitted others to render these
attentions, contenting herself with brief but gentle inquiries
concerning her welfare. Jennie only took pains to learn that Ida
would not leave the Lake House till Monday of the following week,
and then rested and waited. She was not sure of Van Berg, and until
she was she would shield Ida as herself. But if it were true, as
she surmised that Van Berg imagined that honor and loyalty bound
him to her, while his heart was disposed to reward the maiden who
had given him hers, she hoped that a little wise diplomacy on her
part might do no harm. She very justly feared that Van Berg's
gratitude to herself would be so strong that he would consider
nothing else, and she also feared that in order to accomplish her
kind intentions towards them, it might become necessary for her
to tell him the sad story of her life--a story which she had never
yet put in words.
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