It has ever been that she brings no one to Todos Santos, that she
takes no one from Todos Santos. That is the law. But I swear to you
that she shall take you, your children, and your friend to Acapulco in
secret, where you will be free. You will join your husband; you will be
happy. I will remain, and I will die."
It would have been impossible for any woman but Mrs. Brimmer to have
regarded the childlike earnestness and melancholy simplicity of this
grown-up man without a pang. Even this superior woman experienced a
sensible awkwardness as she slipped from the hammock and regained an
upright position.
"Of course," she, began, "your offer is exceedingly generous; and
although I should not, perhaps, take a step of this kind without the
sanction of Mr. Brimmer, and am not sure that he would not regard it as
rash and premature, I will talk it over with Miss Chubb, for whom I am
partially responsible. Nothing," she continued, with a sudden access of
feeling, "would induce me, for any selfish consideration, to take any
step that would imperil the future of that child, towards whom I feel as
a sister." A slight suffusion glistened under her pretty brown lashes.
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