The former had on her shawl and bonnet, and
said that she was about going away.
"You will not leave this child here alone," said Edward.
"I will take her for the present," spoke up the other. "Would you like
to go home with me, Fanny?" addressing the child. "Come,"--and she
held out her hands.
But the child shrank closer to the side of Edward, and looked up into
his face with a silent appeal that his heart could not resist.
"Thank you, ma'am," he returned politely. "But we won't trouble you
to do that. I will take her to my own home for the present. Would you
like to go with me, dear?"
Fanny answered with a grateful look, as she lifted her beautiful eyes
again to his face.
And so, after the woman and the domestic had departed, Edward Claire
locked up the house, and taking the willing child by the hand, led her
away to his own humble dwelling.
Having turned himself resolutely away from evil, already were the
better impulses of his nature quickened into active life. A beautiful
humanity was rising up to fill the place so recently about to be
consecrated to the worship of a hideous selfishness.
CHAPTER VI.
Edward Claire was in no doubt as to the reception the motherless child
would receive from his kind-hearted wife. A word or two of explanation
enabled her to comprehend the feeling from which he had acted.
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