But, in spite of his joking tone,
there ran through it a sound of command; and, from that hour to this, I
have never opened my lips about it to anybody living."
"And he burns the light still?"
"Except Saturday and Sunday nights, it's always alight, longer or
shorter. Them two nights, he gets into bed respectable, as the rest of
the house do. You have noticed, Miss Constance, that, the evenings he
is not out, he'll go up to his chamber by half-past nine or ten?"
"Frequently," assented Constance. "As soon as the reading is over, he
will wish us good night."
"Well, them nights, when he goes up early, he puts his light out
sooner--by twelve, or by half-past, or by one; but when he spends his
evenings out, not getting home until eleven, he'll have it burning till
two or three in the morning."
"What can he sit up for?" involuntarily exclaimed Constance.
"I don't know, unless it is that the work at the office is too heavy
for him," said Judith. "He has his own work to do there, and master's
as well."
"It is not at all heavy," said Constance. "There is an additional clerk
since papa's illness, you know. It cannot be that."
"It has to do with the office-books, for certain," returned Judith.
"Why else is he so particular in taking 'em into his room every night?"
"He takes--them--for safety," spoke Constance, in a very hesitating
manner, as if not feeling perfectly assured of the grounds for her
assertion.
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