It was a
sad time for poor little Aleck; his grandmother fairly doted on him,
and indulged his every whim, but Mrs. Riddell, the new housekeeper,
cared not whether he was happy or miserable so long as she drew her
monthly pay.
All this time Mrs. Wilkie had been living with her mother in Toronto,
and, as soon as she heard of her mother-in-law's death, she
persuaded her mother to remove to Montreal, so that she might
secretly keep watch over her boy, whom she now loved, if possible,
more than ever. Assuming the name of Mrs. Johnson, she took lodgings
in a house nearly opposite the residence of Mr. Wilkie, and thus was
enabled to observe closely all the proceedings of his household; she
longed to throw herself at her husband's feet and implore his
forgiveness, but her proud spirit rebelled against such an act, and
she sat at her window day after day in moody silence watching her
darling boy going and returning from school.
Shortly after his wife's arrival in Montreal, Mr. Wilkie was
summoned to England on business of importance, a fact with which
Mrs. Wilkie became easily acquainted through the _Gazette_, which
heralded all his movements, the fond mother now became more anxious
than ever about her boy, and indeed not without reason, for, being
monarch of all she surveyed, the easy-going housekeeper laid herself
out for "a good time," and, although in her way she was kind enough
to the child, she left him to take care of himself as well as he
could, being content if she prepared a bed for him to sleep in, and
ordered his three meals a day with unfailing regularity.
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