But
by doing right I have kept his respect. Thank God for the glance
I have just received, for it is worth far more than any expressions
of dishonorable passion. My conscience is light, if my heart is
heavy!"
In the quiet and friendly courtesy that Van Berg and Ida maintained
towards each other, a casual observer would have seen nothing to
excite remark, and the gossips at the house believed they had been
misled by the facts that the artist had followed Ida to the city,
and returned with her as if by arrangement. They now all agreed
that he could not do less than bestow himself as a reward upon
the "pretty little school ma'am," as some of the tattling genus
persisted in calling Miss Burton. Mr. Mayhew had written that
unexpected business complications had arisen which required his
whole attention, and as he was acting in trust for others he could
not give his time just then to making the change that Ida had
wished, but that he would arrange matters so he could enter on his
vacation the following week, and then would take Ida wherever she
wished to go. He wrote daily, and his letters were sources of
double cheer to Ida, for she read between the lines her father's
deep sympathy and in the lines found increasing proof that he was
a changed man.
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