Page:A Wild-Goose Chase - Balmer - 1915.djvu/253

Rh even if you came back I should put you away, but that surely you were dead. But I wouldn't believe it."

"Go on, Margaret!" he cried.

"Then came the message of the wild goose!"

"What?"

She told him of that.

"What a strange thing!" He stared at her for a moment. "And how nearly true that was!"

"It was true; that was it, Eric! Oh, my love—forgive me, but I had to say it that once—that message made me almost mad. I knew it mightn't be real—that is, I knew it might not have been sent by you; but everything in my soul told me that what it said was true. You were safe. You needed help. And I had to send it to you!"

"My poor sweet heart!"

"Eric, you must see how it was with me. I sent at once for my cousin—Mrs. Chandler, you remember her. She told me I was a fool and scolded me. I could get no money from her. I knew I should be laughed at in the same way by other people, and I had no time to seek