All at
once we heard the others descending, and she turned to me with such
a frightened, appealing look, that I could not possibly have helped
going to the rescue. I plunged abruptly into a discourse on
Beckford, and told her how he used to keep diamonds in a tea-cup,
and amused himself by arranging them on a piece of velvet. Sir
Richard fled from the sound of my prosy voice, and, needless to say,
Derrick followed him. We let them get well in advance and then
followed, Freda silent and distraite, but every now and then asking
a question about the Major.
As for Derrick, evidently he was on guard. He saw a good deal of
the Merrifields and was sedulously attentive to them in many small
ways; but with Freda he was curiously reserved, and if by chance
they did talk together, he took good care to bring Lawrence's name
into the conversation. On the whole, I believe loyalty was his
strongest characteristic, and want of loyalty in others tried him
more severely than anything in the world.
As the spring wore on, it became evident to everyone that the Major
could not last long. His son's watchfulness and the enforced
temperance which the doctors insisted on had prolonged his life to a
certain extent, but gradually his sufferings increased and his
strength diminished.
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