one he loved had
gone before him. It will be like going home to meet them again. He was
grim and cross and suspicious, but I loved him all the same, and in his
queer way I am sure that he liked me too. I'm thankful he is at rest!
... `Will write details.' Thursday!--that means that she will write on
Thursday evening. Mrs Thornton is nothing if not businesslike. We
shall hear from her by the second post on Friday. By Friday at ten
o'clock we shall know our fate. To be, or not to be--that is the
question. Oh, I hope--I hope he has remembered us a little! There is
no chance of inheriting the Court, as we once dreamt of doing; but
still, there is a hope, and it will be a shock to bury it for ever. I
used to feel comparatively indifferent; but the strain of these last six
months has made me greedy; while you, you dear goose, who used to be all
ambition, are in such a ludicrous condition of bliss that you can hardly
rouse yourself to take any interest in the question! What it is to be
engaged!"

Ruth tried to look contrite, but succeeded only in smiling seraphically.

"When you are perfectly happy it is impossible to be happier, and I
honestly don't care very much. I should like Uncle Bernard to leave me
a nice message, and I shouldn't at all object to a legacy, which would
provide my trousseau; but the Court itself would be a white elephant to
me now. Donald adores his work, and would not give it up for any
consideration, so we could never live there ourselves."

"You might lend it to a poor but deserving family! Astonishing as it
may appear, there are a few other people in the world beside yourself
and Donald, and they are not all going to be married and live happily
ever after!"

This time Ruth did, indeed, look contrite, and that without an effort.

"Oh, Mollie, I am horribly selfish! Forgive me, darling! I honestly do
forget everybody but ourselves sometimes; and it is hateful of me, for
when I am so happy I ought to be more sympathetic, instead of less. I
am, when I remember! I am so bubbling over with happiness and good-will
that I feel inclined to kiss everyone I meet. But there is so much to
be thought about, and every time we meet there seems to be more, and I
get lost in dreams."

"Bless your heart, don't apologise to me. I like it!" cried Mollie
heartily. "I know your heart is right; and it's a poor thing if lovers
can't live in a world of their own for a few weeks of their life. I'm