“Please tell me quickly.”
“So many of my dearest hopes have come to nothing!” Mrs. Percival went on, with a little bitterness that Madeline thought unlike her. “Each blow, as it falls, seems the hardest to bear. I’ve tried to accept whatever happens, graciously. It isn’t always easy, Madeline, dear.”
“Yes?” said Madeline.
“Dick—”
“Is anything the matter with Dick?” Madeline rose with a little cry.
“Dick does not think so,” his mother answered. “My child, you have seen something of this little Miss Quincy?”
Madeline’s eyes dropped for the tenth of a second and a heaviness took possession of her body; then she lifted her head bravely.
“Yes,” she answered, “I know Miss Quincy—quite the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”
“Very beautiful,” echoed Mrs. Percival. “So I too thought, the only time I ever saw her. Well, Madeline, what I have to tell you is that Dick is to marry her.”
The girl saw that the older woman’s hands were trembling, and she laid her own warm young palms over the cold old ones.