delighted togo home, and not the least bit sorry to leave us?" she said, withhalf-playful reproach.
"Of _course_ I am sorry to leave you, dear, dear Maida," said Philippa,tenderly. "I am feeling very pleased though, this morning, for I havejust heard that Charley will meet me at the junction, and I don't thinkI had fully realised how nice it is to have him back again," she addedin explanation, which was strictly true so far as it went. And indeedin her anticipation of meeting Michael Gresham again, she could scarcelyhave described her sensations as pleasurable or the reverse.
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A few words from Philippa announcing her safe arrival at home, andending with affectionate expressions of gratitude to her kind cousins,reached Dorriford the following day.
Then came a blank extending over a fortnight, by the end of which timeMiss Lermont began to fear that something must be the matter atGreenleaves.
She was on the point of writing again to Philippa to inquire the causeof her silence, when a letter arrived. It was a long letter and marked"private," though no restrictions were placed on Maida as to makingknown to her family the news it contained.
"My hesitation has vanished," were the words with which Philippapreluded the announcement of her engagement to Michael Gresham. "I am_perfectly_ happy, _perfectly_ satisfied, though it has been difficultfor me to believe myself worthy of him. But as _he_ thinks I am--"
More practical details followed. It was not a "brilliant" marriage,such as Evelyn Headfort had dreamt of for her sister. A life of somerestrictions, even possibly of a certain amount of struggle, was beforeher and Michael, but a life brightened and ennobled by high aims andmany worthy interests outside themselves, by, above all, completestconfidence and mutual sympathy.
"It seems almost ideal," thought Maida, as she finished the letter. "Ican feel no fears or apprehensions about a marriage like that, whateverthe world may say as to the necessity of wealth."
For Maida's eyes were growing very clear as to the real estimate ofthings--she was nearing the heights where earth-born clouds and mistsbegin to melt away in the everlasting sunshine.
Up to the present time, Bernard Gresham is still unmarried, not havingas yet succeeded in discovering the flawless gem among women, to whom hecould without misgiving entrust his happiness, and who alone would befitted to shine as mistress of Merle. He now by no means regretsPhilippa's little looked-for refusal of the honour he laid before her,vainly as he has endeavoured satisfactorily to account to himself forit. But as his cousin's wife he quite approves of her, and he is alwaysready cordially to welcome her and her husband when they can spare aweek or two for a visit to Merle, on which occasions it is unnecessaryto say that "Solomon" again figures as one of Philippa'sfellow-travellers.
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The End.
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