Would he see that Miss Huckins was not neglected in her absence?
The clerk, startled at these evidences of sense and self-reliance in one he had been accustomed to see under the special protection of the very woman she was now confiding to his care, surveyed her eloquent features beaming with quiet resolve, and for a moment seemed at a loss how to take this change and control the strange situation.

Perhaps she understood him, perhaps she only followed the impulses natural to her sex.

She never knew; she only remembers that she smiled, and that his hesitation vanished at that smile.
"I will see to it," said he.

Then, as she turned to go, he ventured to add, "It is quite dark now.

If you would like one of the boys to go with you--".