"I—I haven't realized it all yet," she said. "Ah! I wish Drake were—just Drake Vernon! I am afraid when I think——"
The countess smiled and shook her head.
"There is no need to be afraid, my dear," she said shrewdly. "You will wear the Angleford coronet very well and very gracefully, if I am not mistaken, because you set so little store by it. And now here comes Drake! It is good of him to give me so long with you. Give me a kiss before he comes—he won't begrudge me that surely! Ah, you happy girl!"
Drake drove up in a dogcart.
"I can't get down; the mare won't stand"—he hadn't brought a groom, for excellent reasons. "Please tell Nell to get her things on as quickly as she can!" he said to the countess as she came out.
Nell looked doubtful.
"I will go upstairs first," she said. But Falconer was asleep, and when she came down she had her outdoor things on.
Drake bent down and held out his hand to help her up.
"You won't be long?" she asked, and she looked up at him shyly, for, after their long separation, he seemed almost strange to her.
"Just as long as you like," he said, understanding the reason for her question, and glancing at the window of Falconer's room. "Dick tells me that he is better this morning. I couldn't say how glad I am, dearest Nell," he whispered, as the mare sprang at the collar and they whirled through the gates and down the road. "Is it you really who are sitting beside me, or am I dreaming?"