"My darling," he said, "that is home."
Her face flushed, her eyes brightened, the sensitive lips quivered.
"Home!" she repeated. "How sweet the word sounds to me!" With a tremulous smile she raised her face to his. "Nor man," she said, "do you know that I feel very much as Lady Burleigh, the wife of Lord Burleigh, of Stamford-town, must have felt."
"But you, Madaline," he laughed, "are not quite the simple maiden--he wooed and won. You have the high-bred grace of a lady--nothing could rob you of that."
"She must have been lovely and graceful to have won Lord Burleigh," she remarked.
"Perhaps so, but not like you, Madaline--there has never been any one quite like you. I shall feel tempted to call you 'Lady Burleigh.' Here we are at home; and, oh, my wife, my darling, how sweet the coming home is!"
The carriage stopped at the grand entrance. Wishing to spare his young wife all fatigue and embarrassment, Lord Arleigh had not dispatched the news of his marriage home, so that no one at Beechgrove expected to see Lady Arleigh. He sent at once for the housekeeper, a tall, stately dame, who came into the dining-room looking in unutterable amazement at the beautiful, blushing young face.
"Mrs. Chatterton," he said, "I wish to introduce you to my wife, Lady Arleigh."
The stately dame curtesied almost to the ground.
"Welcome home, my Lady," she said, deferentially. "If I had known that your ladyship was expected I would have made more befitting preparations."