happy at the Hill?" lightly touching her face again with the
lemon-plant.

"With you anywhere," she answered.

"And my mother? Do you remember when you said one day you would not
like to be my mother's daughter? Ah, little puss, you did not know
what you were saying; and now tell me, do you object to be my mother's
daughter?"

Leam looked grave. "I had not thought of that," she said, a certain
shadow of distress crossing her face.

"Does the idea displease you?" he asked, in his turn grave.

"No," she answered after a short silence. "But I only thought of you.
Shall I be Mrs. Harrowby's daughter?"

"Of course. How should you not?" he laughed.

"And Miss Josephine's too--two mothers?--mother and daughter both my
mothers? I cannot understand," said poor Leam, a little hopelessly.

"Never mind the intricacies now. You are to be my wife: that is all we
need remember. Is it not?" bending toward her tenderly.

"Yes," echoed Leam with a sigh of relief. "That is all we need
remember."

So the day passed in these broken episodes, these delightful little
scenes of the fooling and flattery of love, till the evening came,
when Edgar was obliged to go up to the seven-o'clock dinner at the
Hill. He might sit with Leam, as he had done, for nearly six hours in
the garden, without more comment than that which servants naturally
make among themselves, but if he remained through the evening he would
publish more than he cared to publish at the present moment. So he had
arranged to go back to the family dinner at seven, and thus keep his
mother and sisters hoodwinked for a few hours longer.

As the time of parting drew nearer and nearer Leam became strangely
sad and silent. Little caressing as she was by nature or habit, of her
own accord she had laid her small dry feverish hand in Edgar's, and
had gathered herself so much nearer to him that her slight shoulder
touched his broad and powerful arm. It was a very faint caress for an
engaged girl to offer, but it was an immense concession for Leam to
make; and Edgar understood it in its meaning more than its extent.
With the former he was delighted enough: the latter would scarcely
have contented a man with loose moist lips and the royal habit of
taking and having all for which he had a fancy. Nothing that Leam had
said or done through the day had told him so plainly as did this quiet
and by no means fervent familiarity how much she loved him, and how
the power of that love was b