Elaine.
She wrote the loving words with glowing cheeks and eyes beaming with happiness. Then she sealed up the letter, and kissed it again and again.
“Nina, my trusty maid, shall take this to my lover,” she thought, “and while she is gone I will tell Margaret that my troubles are ended.”
She was awakened from a blissful reverie by the return of her maid, with Margaret Nugent following close behind.
“I declare,” exclaimed Miss Nugent, “it is a positive relief to find that there is nothing seriously wrong. Nina was so urgent, so mysterious, that I began to anticipate all sorts of awful possibilities; and here you are looking perfectly happy, Lady Elaine.”
Margaret’s dark eyes promptly took in the situation, as she swept into my lady’s boudoir, while Nina retired to another room.
“You are right, Margaret; I am happier than I have been for days and days,” Lady Elaine said. “And it is really very kind of you to bother with my foolish troubles. I can never forget your sympathy and kindness.” Then she told Miss Nugent all, concluding:
“You advised me for the best, but my pride is broken. I can live no longer without my lover.”
Margaret was almost bewildered by the shock.
“You have astonished me,” she said, at last. “I can scarcely realize that the proud daughter of a hundred earls can possibly become so meek. But, then, we are all forced to acknowledge that man is lord of creation, while we poor women are crushed into obedience.”