kerchief as her victoria turned up the hill was like the flutter of some
glad bird's wing.

In four days there was a letter of great interest and kindness from Lord
Harlow. He said that he was well acquainted with Mr. John Hatton from
many favorable sources and that the marriage arranged between him and
his niece Jane Harlow was satisfactory in all respects. Further she was
informed that Lady Harlow requested her company during the present
season in London. It would, she said, be her duty and her pleasure to
assist in getting ready her niece's wedding outfit, but she left her to
fix the day on which she would come to London.

This letter was a little thunderbolt in the Harlow villa, and Jane said
she could not go away until her mother was settled at Harlow House. John
was much troubled at this early break in his love dream, but Mrs. Harlow
would not listen to any refusal of Lord and Lady Harlow's invitation.
She said Jane had never seen anything of life, and it was only right she
should do so before settling down at Hatton. Besides, her uncle and
aunt's gifts would be very necessary for her wedding outfit. In the
privacy of her own thoughts--yes, and several times to her daughter--she
sighed deeply over this late kindness of Lord and Lady Harlow. She
wished that Jane had been asked before she was engaged; nobody knew in
that case what good fortune might have come. It was such a pity!

Mrs. Harlow's removal was not completed until Christmas was so close at
hand that it was thought best to make it the time for their return home.
It was really John and Mrs. Hatton who managed the whole business of the
removal, and to their efforts the complete comfort--and even beauty--of
the old residence was due. But the days spent in this work were days
full of the sweet intimacies of love. John could never forget one hour
of them, and it added to their charm to see and hear Martha Hatton
everywhere, her hands making beauty and comfort, her voice sounding like
a cheerful song in all the odd corners and queer places of the house.

Upon the whole it was a wonderful Christmas, but when it was over the
realities of life were to face. Jane was going to London and John
wondered how he was to bear the days without her. In the spring he would
begin to build the house for himself he had long contemplated building.
The plan of it had been fully explained to Jane, and had been approved
by her, and John was resolved to break ground for the found