She was thinking over this resolution as she sat in the study, facing her future, trying, not without success, to be glad in Nigel's coming happiness.
"For he will be happy!" she murmured. "And I may love him still—as his sister. We were brother and sister so many years. Just going back to the old order of things. It will not be so hard now—perhaps—now I can love Ethel too."
There was a stir of arrival at the front door. Fulvia sat still, trembling. She was not strong yet, though she looked well. She had said that she would see Nigel alone, and the others had acquiesced; only Daisy asked her mother curiously, "I wonder why?"
"My dear, don't ask. Say nothing," Mrs. Browning answered sadly.
Some little delay took place. Fulvia could hear voices—Nigel's sounding cheerful. She locked her hands together, resolute to be calm. Then Nigel came into the room.
"They told me I should find you here," he said.
Fulvia had not resolved how to act, had not been able to decide. Now a sudden impulse came: and when he entered, she rose slowly, holding out her hand.
"Am I not to have a kiss, Fulvia?" he asked in his kindest tone.
He looked much better for the change, brighter than she had seen him for some time.
"If you like—as my brother!" she said distinctly, though her heart beat almost to suffocation.