too."

"And shall we see _him_?" Mrs. Thornton asked again tensely.

"Why, I do not know," Madison replied; "but at least we shall see his
niece, Miss Vail, and it is with her in any case that we would have to
discuss the plan, for the Patriarch, you know, is deaf and dumb and
blind."

"You know them, don't you?" Thornton inquired.

Madison smiled, a little strangely, a little deprecatingly.

"If one can speak of 'knowing' such as they--yes," he answered. "When I
came two weeks ago, the Patriarch was not wholly blind, and he was very
kind to me. I learned to love the gentle soul of the man, and in a way,
skeptical though I was, I felt his power--but I never realized until
this afternoon how stupendous, how immeasurable it was."

"Let us go to the cottage, then," said Thornton. "Naida, dear, let me
help you; it is quite a little distance and--"

She put out her hands in a happy, intimate way to hold him off.

"You can't realize it, Robert, can you? That dear, practical business
head of yours makes it even harder for you than it is for me--and I can
hardly realize it myself. But I _am_ cured, dear, and I'm well and
strong, and I don't need any help--why, Robert, I am going to help you
now, instead of always being a source of worry and anxiety to you. Come,
let us go."