“Then he is certainly very rude, and entirely unworthy of my little sister’s regard.”
“But think what a dreadful charge it was; no wonder he cannot forgive me.”
“He should have written, anyhow.”
“But if he had nothing but resentment to express, it was better that he should not, I think. At all events, I have said I am sorry, and I can do no more. I acknowledged that I had formed hasty conclusions, and was as humble as I could be.”
“Which was an acknowledgment against your will, I know. He should have appreciated the fact that it went against the grain for Lettice Hopkins to eat humble pie for the sake of any man. You liked him a little, Lettice?”
“I liked him very much at one time, but I never liked him well enough to give up all for him. I should always have disagreed with his opinions. We quarrelled often, and after all this, it would be impossible for us to forget what had come between us. Besides, after the sorrows I have had, I never, never could care for any one who sided with those who were the cause of them.”
“And Rhoda, what does she say? Rhoda was very fond of our dear Jamie, I well know.”
Lettice did not reply for a moment. She was rocking her little nephew, whose eyelids were beginning to droop over his bright eyes. “He is almost asleep,” Lettice remarked. “I cannot tell about Rhoda,” she went on to say. “She is a very dutiful daughter, and although I think she will never forget Jamie, she is young, and some day she may marry, as it would please her father to have her. Ah me, Sister Betty, trouble makes one feel very old. I was such a careless thing a couple of years ago; but when I think of my two brothers and my father all in peril, of my home destroyed and my friends scattered, is it a wonder that I am sad?”
“No wonder at all, dear child, but I predict happy days for you yet. I see a gallant young officer, splendid in his uniform, riding toward my lady sister, and she all smiles and blushes.” Betty leaned over, tipped back Lettice’s head, and looked down with laughing eyes at her. “I see the smiles and the blushes,” she said, kissing her forehead; then, lifting her head, she gave a start and looked intently toward the gate. “Oh, Letty,” she cried, “I see the officer in the flesh! Look yonder, coming up the lane.”
Lettice lifted her eyes; then dropped them and continued to rock the sleeping baby until a voice said, “Ah, Miss Lettice, I hoped to find you here. What a sweet, peaceful picture is this to a man who has seen only the deck of a frigate for the last six months. May I sit here?” He took the chair Betty had just vacated and leaned forward to put a gentle finger on the baby’s soft hair. “How he has grown,” he remarked. “I am tremendously glad to see you, Miss Lettice.”