"Maurice! Maurice!" calls somebody.
Marian sinks upon a couch near her, and buries her face in her hands. Sir Maurice goes into the hall to meet his bride.
The partings are very brief. Tita, who is in the gayest spirits, says good-bye to everybody with a light heart. Has not her freedom been accomplished? She receives Lady Rylton's effusive embrace calmly. There are some, indeed, who say that the little bride did not return her kiss. Just at the very last, with her foot almost on the carriage step, Tita looks back, and seeing Margaret at a little distance, runs to her, and flings herself into her embrace.
"You are mine now, my own cousin!" whispers she joyfully.
"God bless you, Tita," says Margaret in a whisper, too, but very earnestly, "and preserve to you your happy heart!"
"Oh, I shall always be happy," says Tita; "and I shall hurry back to see you," giving her another hug.
Then somebody puts her into the carriage, and, still smiling and waving her hands, she is driven away.
"Really, Margaret, you should be flattered," says Lady Rylton, with a sneer. "She seems to think more of you than of her husband."
"I hope her husband will think of her," returns Margaret coldly. "As
I told you before, I consider this marriage ill done."