“It may so happen, it may so fall,
That I shall be Lady of Exham Hall.”
And Piers drew her beautiful head closer to his own, and added,–
“Weary wishing, and waiting past,
Lady of Exham Hall at last!”
CHAPTER SIXTEENTH
AFTER TWENTY GOLDEN YEARS
After twenty years have passed away, it is safe to ask if events have been all that they promised to be; and one morning in August of 1857, it was twenty years since Kate Atheling became Lady Exham. She was sitting at a table writing letters to her two eldest sons, who were with their tutor in the then little known Hebrides. Lord Exham was busy with his mail. They were in a splendid room, opening upon a lawn, soft and green beyond description; and the August sunshine and the August lilies filled it with warmth and fragrance. Lady Exham was even more beautiful than on her wedding day. Time had matured without as yet touching her wonderful loveliness, and motherhood had crowned it with a tender and bewitching nobility. She had on a gown of lawn and lace, white as the flowers that hung in clusters from the Worcester vase at her side. Now and then Piers lifted his head and watched her for a moment; and then, with the faint, happy smile of a heart full and at ease, he opened another letter or paper. Suddenly he became a little excited. “Why, Kate,” he said, “here is my speech on the blessings which Reform has brought to England. I did not expect such a thing.”
“Read it to me, Piers.”
“It is entirely too long; although I only reviewed some of the notable works that followed Reform.”