Chapter XXIV: A Friend in Need

Sir Charles’ kind heart ached for the fair, beautiful woman who had just taken leave of the man who should have interposed himself between her and all evil, instead of trying to crush her and blast her reputation.

She was pale and very sad when she returned to him; her lovely mouth wore a grieved expression, and her eyes an almost hopeless look.

He refrained from speaking to her, but offering her his arm, they passed out of the court-room in silence, nor did he leave her until he had conducted her safely to her own door.

“Mrs. Paxton,” he then said, “I am going directly for my mother, and we will take you under our protection immediately. These Spaniards are a treacherous, revengeful set, and you have already been the victim of such miserable plots, that I do not like to leave you alone another hour. Have you any business outside which needs attention?”

“No,” Arley said, “there is nothing to detain me.”

“Then may I ask you to pack your trunks, and be ready to go away with us when we come for you?”

She promised, and he went away with a quick, eager step.

He was back in an hour, and his mother with him.

Lady Herbert was a sweet-faced little woman of about fifty, with a fair, almost girlish complexion, dark, kind eyes, a low, rich voice, and a smile which won Arley’s heart at once.

“My dear, Charles has told me of your trouble,” was her greeting, as she took Arley warmly by the hand, then drawing her gently toward her, she kissed her softly on the cheek, for the girl’s loveliness took her heart by storm.

Arley’s lips trembled at the tender, compassionate tone, and if Sir Charles had not been present, she would have bowed her head upon that motherly shoulder and sobbed out all her sorrows to her sympathizing ear.

“I think with him,” Lady Herbert continued, seeing that Arley was near losing her composure, “that we must take you away immediately; will you come and travel with us for a few months before going back to England?”

“You are very kind, madam,” Arley replied, “and I will gladly do so if I can be useful to you--I could not consent to be a burden.”

The pretty matron laughed such a sweet, rare laugh at this.

“A burden, dear,” she said, “I should not allow you to be such--you have yet to learn what an exacting little body I am, and I promise you that I shall see that you are kept busy from dawn to twilight.”

“You are very kind,” said Arley.

But Lady Herbert interrupted her half-completed sentence.

“You overestimate the kindness, as you term it, my dear,” she said. “I cannot tell you how lonely I have been since Miss Preble left me. I believe I should have given up our trip and insisted upon going home if Charlie had not run across you. He is very nice and kind, and tries to see that I have every comfort”--this with a fond glance at her idolized son--“but he is a man, and cannot understand all the little notions of a fussy old woman. Ah! I see you mean to come,” she continued, as her roving glance rested on Arley’s trunks, packed and ready to be strapped. “Charlie, won’t you attend to Mrs. Paxton’s luggage, while I call up her landlady to settle?”

Arley colored and laughed.

“There is no need for that,” she said, “for she is paid. Your son requested me to be ready to go away when he returned, and I have obeyed him literally. Please accept it as an omen of my future loyalty to yourself.”

“That is a good child,” madam remarked, more and more delighted with her acquisition, and she emphasized her words with an affectionate little pat upon her shoulder.

“Then I do not see, Charlie, but we are ready to go,” she added, to her son. “We will have the coach take us to our hotel, then carry Mrs. Paxton’s trunks to the station, while she helps me pack my own. We have thought best,” she explained to Arley, “to leave Madrid to-night.”

Arley felt like a different being as she took her seat beside Lady Herbert in the coach; a great burden rolled from her heart.

She drove with Sir Charles and his mother to their hotel, where she helped them pack their large trunks, and a busy time they had of it to get ready for the evening train.

Evening found the Herbert party _en route_ for Toulouse, whence they were to go to spend the remainder of the summer among the Alps.