“I wonder your father never happened to hear about the lawyer’s visit.”
“There was no one to tell him. He and I were out for the day, and Aunt Briscoe sent Maria into the city, on an errand. I suppose Maria might have told,—father seems to have some sort of hold on her. You know he made Aunt Briscoe send away her good old housemaid, and get this new one instead. But she would not part with cook, even to please him,—and cook does not like father at all. She would be sure to tell him nothing.”
We did not talk much more of Churton, for the subject seemed to sadden Maimie. Nor did we see him again. Later on we all had tea together; but Churton was absent. Inquiries being made, we found that he had gone away an hour earlier, taking two large boxes with him. No one knew where he was gone; and he had left no message to anybody.
“So he gives you quite over to us, Maimie,” Robert said. “You are our child now.”
It was a good while before we actually went to live at “The Gables.” Law-business had to be settled before we might take formal possession. Also many repairs were needed in our new home. Moreover, our old home was on our hands for another two years; and a tenant had to be found for it.
But by the time summer was in full swing, we made the move.
I found then that the old home was dear to my heart; but the new promised soon to be yet dearer. Robert loved “every stick and stone” about the place, as the saying is. The garden and the little conservatory were a great delight to Maimie and me; but the change in my husband’s look was a greater delight still. He seemed already ten years younger, and was losing his burdened air.
One day, soon after we were beginning to feel really settled, Maimie came softly into the drawing-room, carrying a rosebud in her hand, and blushing herself like a rose. She had on her garden-hat, and I thought how wonderfully pretty she was growing, with her black soft eyes and her wavy flaxen hair, and the bright bloom in her cheeks.
“Aunt Marion, I’ve been gardening,” she said.
“Yes, dear,” I answered; and I knew directly that something was coming.