"Now," said Lord Linleigh to him, "your position is secure—your fortune is made."
And Earle sighed deeply, remembering how happy this might have made him once.
They were to return to England in April; and then a grand surprise awaited the earl. He received a letter to say that Lady Estelle, having grown tired of Downsbury Castle, had gone to a pretty estate of his in Wales—Gymglas—and that, on his return, he was to join her there.
"What a strange whim," said Lord Linleigh to Earle. "Gone to Gymglas. I have not been in Wales for some time. It will be quite pleasant—quite a treat to me."
When he returned to England, they went at once to Gymglas.
They reached the hall one fine day in April, when the world was all fair with the coming spring. Lord Linleigh thought he had never seen his wife looking so young or so fair. He had left her pale, with a quiet, languid sadness that seemed almost like despair: now her face was flushed with a dainty color, her eyes were bright; she was animated, joyous, and happy. It was a strange, subtle change, that he hardly understood.
"My darling Estelle," he said, "how happy I am to see you looking so bright! Has anything happened while I have been away?"
"Am I looking so well?" she asked, in a voice so full of heart's music he hardly recognized it. "Do you love me better than ever, Ulric?"
"Yes, a thousand times, if it be possible," he replied.
"Come with me," she said.