"I am afraid
I have not kept the account as I ought to have done."
Which was undeniably true, seeing we had never taken a receipt from
her at all, and that loans had been debited to his private account
instead of to that of Miss Blake. But true as it was, I only answered
that I would get her acknowledgment; and taking my hat, I walked off
to Hunter Street.
Arrived there, I found, to my unspeakable joy, that Miss Blake was out,
and Miss Elmsdale at home.
When I entered the shabby sitting-room where her beauty was so
grievously lodged, she rose and greeted me with kindly words, and sweet
smiles, and vivid blushes.
"You have come to tell me you are not going ever again to that dreadful
house," she said, after the first greeting and inquiries for Miss Blake
were over. "You cannot tell the horror with which the mere mention of
River Hall now fills me."
"I hope it will never be mentioned to you again till I have solved the
mystery attached to it," I answered.
"Then you will not do what I ask," she cried, almost despairingly.
"I cannot," was my reply. "Miss Elmsdale, you would not have a soldier
turn back from the battle. I have undertaken to find out the secret
attached to your old home, and, please God, I shall succeed in my
endeavours.
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