Part 44 (2/2)
That out of her danger had resulted the engagement Diane had hoped for was surplusage of good luck.
”You lucky, sensible girl.”
Sheba a.s.sented demurely. ”I do think I'm sensible as well as lucky. It isn't every girl that knows the right man for her even when he wants her. But I know at last. He's the man for me out of ten million.”
”I'm sure of it, dear. Oh, I am _so_ glad.” Diane hugged her again.
She couldn't help it.
”One gets to know a man pretty well on a trip like that. I wouldn't change mine for any one that was ever made. I like everything about him, Di. I am the happiest girl.”
”I'm so glad you see it that way at last.” Diane pa.s.sed to the practical aspect of the situation. ”But Thursday. Will that give us time, my dear?
And who are you going to have here?”
”Just the family. I've invited two guests, but neither of them can come.
One has a broken leg and the other says he doesn't want to see me married to another man,” Sheba explained with a smile.
”So Gordon won't come.”
”Yes. He'll have to be here. We can't get along without the bridegroom.
It wouldn't be a legal marriage, would it?”
Diane looked at her, for the moment dumb. ”You little wretch!” she got out at last. ”So it's Gordon, is it? Are you quite sure this time? Not likely to change your mind before Thursday?”
”I suppose, to an outsider, I do seem fickle,” Miss O'Neill admitted smilingly. ”But Gordon and I both understand that.”
”And Colby Macdonald--does he understand it too?”
”Oh, yes.” Her smile grew broader. ”He told me that he didn't think I would quite suit him, after all. Not enough experience for the place.”
Diane flashed a suspicious look of inquiry. ”Of course that's nonsense.
What did he tell you?”
”Something like that. He will marry Mrs. Mallory, I think, though he doesn't know it yet.”
”You mean she will get him on the rebound,” said Diane bluntly.
”That isn't a nice way to put it. He has always liked her very much. He is fond of her for what she is. What attracted him in me were the things his imagination gave to me.”
”And Gordon likes you, I suppose, for what you are?”
Sheba did not resent the little note of friendly sarcasm. ”I suppose he has his fancies about me, too, but by the time he finds out what I am he'll have to put up with me.”
The arrival of Elliot interrupted confidences. He had come, he said, to receive congratulations.
<script>