Chapter xxii. She Claims Me Again.
The moments passed; the silence between us continued. Miss Dunross made an attempt to rouse me.
“Have you decided to go back to Scotland with your friends at Lerwick?” she asked.
“It is no easy matter,” I replied, “to decide on leaving my friends in this house.”
Her head drooped lower on her bosom; her voice sunk as she answered me.
“Think of your mother,” she said. “The first duty you owe is your duty to her. Your long absence is a heavy trial to her — your mother is suffering.”
“Suffering?” I repeated. “Her letters say nothing —”
“You forget that you have allowed me to read her letters,” Miss Dunross interposed. “I see the unwritten and unconscious confession of anxiety in every line that she writes to you. You know, as well as I do, that there i
