'Am I? Then I am afraid I shall be a baby to the end of the chapter. I have never been so happy in my life.'
'God send you happiness always, dear,' she whispered. 'But your mother, have you thought of her?'
'Mother! it was the dearest desire of her heart that Grace and I should come together,' cried Tom. 'This will be the most delightful news to her. We must all go home together when the troubles here are over, and I can leave my post. Then, perhaps, you and I will persuade mother to come out with us for a cold season.'
'Ah! you are running far ahead,' said Lady Elton, sighing. 'However——'
'There is no reason why I shouldn't—isn't that what you meant to say?' interrupted Tom.
'What I meant to say and what I must say is, that they are waiting for you in the hall.'
'Very polite of them; but quite useless,' said Tom with a little laugh. 'I'm not cowardly as a general rule; but I really couldn't face them to-night. I shall have something to eat in my own quarters. Goodnight, little mother.' Then to Grace: 'Darling, you will promise me to sleep well.'
'I will do my very best,' she answered, smiling.
He left the room by a door that opened on to one of the passages, for he did not wish to pass through the hall. Grace listened silently, until the echo of his footsteps had died away, and then, to her mother's distress, she turned her face to the wall and wept.