Part 56 (2/2)
Then, one cold spring evening, when he came back from a visit to a moorland farm, he found her sitting by the fire in the hall. The light was getting dim but the glow from the logs fell on her, and he noted her quick, nervous movement as she saw him.
”I'm afraid I startled you,” he said, stopping beside her. ”I've been walking about a wet bog all afternoon, examining drains, and it looks very cozy here. I won't disturb you if I sit down?”
”Of course not.”
Andrew took a chair near her, and stretched his hands to the fire.
Neither spoke for a few minutes; and their silence seemed the deeper because of the loud ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner.
”I've always loved Appleyard,” Andrew said slowly, looking about the big hall; ”but somehow it doesn't seem homey to me now. There's something wanting; it's too big, or I'm better used to a boat.”
”You miss d.i.c.k,” Elsie answered softly, with a touch of color in her face. ”Though he was often ill, it's wonderful how bright he was.”
”Yes; I miss him all the time--but perhaps not as you do.”
Andrew's voice was full of sympathy, and Elsie gave him a quick glance.
”You must know the truth, Andrew,” she said impulsively. ”At first I did feel miserably guilty for having sent d.i.c.k on a dangerous errand when I knew he was ill--”
”d.i.c.k went because he wanted to go,” Andrew interrupted. ”He never s.h.i.+rked a risk, and least of all when he could help his friends.”
”But if I had loved d.i.c.k in the way you seem to think I loved him--perhaps I would not have been brave enough to let him go--I can't be sure.”
”You didn't love him in that way?”
Elsie looked down at the book which lay in her lap. Her face was flooded with color, but a smile played about her lips.
”I would never have married d.i.c.k,” she said, in a voice so low that Andrew had to lean toward her to catch her words.
”There was some one else?” he asked tensely.
She looked up at him then, and he gasped at the deepening glow in her eyes.
”What a stupid thing you are, Andrew! You ought to--”
He waited.
”Elsie--”
His voice was a mingling of incredulity and joy; and she answered his unspoken question with a shy smile.
”Of course--dear!”
THE END
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