The sight of his good-humored face, however,
and his kind offer to do whatever he could to find the fugitive,
restored her composure in a measure, and she partially forgot that he
was in any way connected with the blue umbrella, or the blue umbrella
connected with him! Never in her life had Theo felt very deeply upon
any subject, and now, though she seemed bewildered at what she heard,
she manifested no particular emotion, until her grandmother, wringing
her hands, exclaimed, "You have no sister now, my child, and I no
Margaret!" Then, indeed, her tears flowed, and when her husband
whispered to her, "We will love poor Maggie all the same," she cried
aloud, but not quite as demonstratively as Madam Conway wished; and,
in a very unamiable frame of mind, the old lady accused her of being
selfish and hard-hearted.
At this stage of proceedings Mr. Carrollton returned, bringing no
tidings of Maggie, whereupon another fit of hysterics ensued, and as
Theo behaved much worse than Mrs. Jeffrey had done, the latter was
finally summoned again to the sickroom, and at last succeeded in
quieting the excited woman. The next morning George Douglas visited
old Hagar, but he too was unsuccessful, and that afternoon he returned
to Worcester, leaving Theo with her grandmother, who, though finding
fault with whatever she did, refused to let her go until Margaret was
found.
During the remainder of the week Mr.
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