"I am not, not really," said the girl. "At least——"
"I know—I know; I understand," Mrs. St. Cloud nodded with tender wisdom. "You are not sure. Is not that it?"
That was distinctly "it," and Vivian so agreed.
"There is no other man?"
"Not the shadow of one!" said the girl firmly. And as her questioner had studied the field and made up her mind to the same end, she believed her.
"Then you must not mind this sense of uncertainty. It always happens. It is part of the morning clouds of maidenhood, my dear—it vanishes with the sunrise!" And she smiled beatifically.
Then the girl unburdened herself of her perplexities. She could always express herself so easily to this sympathetic friend.
"There are so many things that I—dislike—about him," she said. "Habits of speech—of manners. He is not—not what I——"
She paused.
"Not all the Dream! Ah! My dear child, they never are! We are given these beautiful ideals to guard and guide us; but the real is never quite the same. But when a man's soul opens to you—when he loves—these small things vanish. They can be changed—you will change them."