"
"Innocent!" Mrs. Mulready gasped in a voice scarcely above a whisper.
"Did you tell me, Abijah, that my boy, my boy Ned, is innocent?"
"I never doubted as he was innocent, ma'am; but now, thank God,
all the world will know it. There, ma'am, sit yourself down. Don't
look like that. I know as how you must feel, but for mercy sake
don't look like that."
Mrs. Mulready did not seem to hear her, did not seem to notice, as
she passively permitted herself to be seated in the chair, while
Abijah poured out a glass of wine. Her face was pale and rigid,
her eyes wide open, her expression one of horror rather than relief.
"Innocent! Proved innocent!" she murmured. "What must he think of
me--me, his mother!"
For some time she sat looking straight before her, taking no notice
of the efforts of Abijah to call her attention, and unheeding the
glass of wine which she in vain pressed her to drink.
"I must go away," she said at last, rising suddenly. "I must go
away at once. Has he gone yet?"
"Go away, ma'am! Why, what should you go away for, and where are
you going?"
"It does not matter; it makes no difference," Mrs. Mulready said
feverishly, "so that I get away. Put some of my things together,
Abijah. What are you staring there for? Don't you hear what I say?
I must go away directly he has started for the mill."
And with trembling fingers she began to open her drawers and pull
out her clothes.
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