[CHAPTER I]
HIS BRIDE
"We in our wedded life shall know no loss,
We shall new-date our years! What went before
Will be the time of promise, shadow, dream,
But this full revelation of great love!
For rivers blent take in a broader heaven,
And we shall blend our souls."
From Cloud of Witness.
"NOW we are together at last."
It was in a tone of deep triumphant content that General Macdonald made this assertion.
He and Rowena were facing each other in a first-class carriage. The Scotch express was taking them up to Scotland, and it was between nine and ten in the evening.
Their wedding-day, and the weather had been perfect: a typical June day, when all the freshness of early summer is at its sweetest and best. They had got their way, and only about half a dozen people were in the quiet little Sussex church when they made their vows together.
Rowena sat back looking radiant. She was dressed in a dark powder-blue coat and skirt with a travelling felt hat of the same hue, which intensified the blue in her eyes. But even now an irrepressible twinkle, of fun shot through them as she said:
"So you think we shall always find our own company sufficient, Hugh?"
"I shall never need anyone but you," he replied quickly.