“And yet,” said Florence, trembling a little as she felt that she was approaching a dangerous subject, “and yet I think we should both be happier if there were perfect confidence between us—I mean if we had no reservations; but——”
“I understand you, Florence,” he exclaimed, in great agitation, “and I appreciate your motives; but spare me—pray spare me! I lack the courage for such miserable details. Let us be content to know that our love has never wavered, however adverse circumstances have divided us. And it never has, has it, my Florence?”
To this she could truly answer “No,” and he seemed satisfied. But the old cloud had not gone, and Florence felt more than ever that their felicity could not be perfect while it was so.
Yet when he tenderly pressed her to promise that she would be his at the earliest period Mrs. Blunden could be prevailed upon to concede, she knew not how to refuse his ardent prayers. As he basked in the light of her smiles he became more and more like the Frank Dormer so well remembered, so unceasingly regretted. It was only when an hour of solitude enabled her to review all he had said that she was again compelled to acknowledge the galling fact that there was some important passage of his life which he withheld from her; some act or deed—whether of his own or another’s—which was an ever-present trouble to his harassed mind, and poisoned even the bliss of their reunion.
CHAPTER XXI.
A WHISPERED WORD.
Mrs. Blunden, having once made up her mind to her niece’s marriage, quickly laid aside all her objections, and went heart and soul into the preparations she considered necessary for so important an affair.
Mrs. Wilson was her delighted assistant, for she was sincerely attached to Florence, and considered her worthy to become the wife of Mr. Aylwinne, even though he was in her eyes of all men the most peerless.
The boys were wild with joy when it was whispered to them that the Donna would soon become the bride of their guardian, and hung about their gentle governess with an affection that would not be repressed.
Mrs. Blunden proposed that they should remove at once to London, where the very handsome trousseau she intended to purchase could be more easily procured; while Mrs. Wilson was impatient to return to Orwell Court, in order to commence the cleaning and polishing she thought the house and furniture would require before it was fit for the reception of its lovely young mistress.