Her abrupt change of front, her suddenly formed resolve to pay the
man his price, was the result of a natural opposition to the elder
Wrandall. She acted hastily, even ruthlessly, in direct contradiction
to her original intentions, but she now felt that she had acted
wisely. There could be no doubt in the mind of the keen-witted
Smith that Mr. Wrandall had lied; his lips therefore were sealed,
not by the declaration, but by her own surprising offer to remunerate.
When she told Hetty what she had done, the girl, who had been
tortured by doubts and misgivings, threw herself into her arms and
sobbed out her gratitude.
"I could die for you, Sara. I could die a thousand deaths," she
cried.
"Oh, I dare say Smith is quite delighted," said Sara carelessly.
"He had come up against a brick wall, don't you see. He could go
no further. There was but one thing for him to do and he did it.
He had no case, but he felt that he ought to be paid just the same.
Mr. Wrandall would never have paid him, he was sure of that. His
game failed. He thinks better of me now than he ever did before,
and I have made a friend of him, strange as it may appear."
"Oh, I hope so."
Sara stroked her cheek gently. "Don't be afraid, Hetty. We are
quite safe."
Hetty secretly gloated over that little pronoun 'we.' It spelt
security.
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