“Thank you, Mr. Douglas. We had better go, I think.”
As they left the room, Mrs. Fairfax purposely lingered behind them.
“Am I right in concluding that you are as frivolous as ever, Marian?” he said.
“Quite,” she replied. “To-day especially so. I am very happy to-day.”
“May I ask why?”
“Something has happened. I will tell you what it is some day perhaps, but not now. Something that realizes a romantic dream of mine. The dream has been hovering vaguely about me for nearly two years; but I never ventured to teach myself exactly what it was until to-day.”
“Realized here? in the Academy?”
“It was foreshadowed—promised, at home this morning; but it was realized here.”
“Did you know beforehand that I was coming?”
“Not until to-day. Mrs. Leith Fairfax said that you would most likely be here.”