"Oh, be sure they are just what he delights in," she replied, decidedly. "I know from his letters that the getting and gaining of the goods of this world is his chief aim in life. His last communication to me was enthusiastic in tone, because my fortune had proved to be so much larger than had been expected."
He walked on silently for a moment, and then asked, with a side-glance at her, "And you,—does all this wealth find you coldly indifferent?"
Kitty leaned slightly forward, and looked him in the face with a pretty air of waywardness. "You doubtless expect a very grave 'yes' from my advanced age, but I can't bring myself to utter it. I find it excessively delightful to be rich."
He laughed softly to himself, and asked no further question. They walked on quickly, and soon reached the linden-avenue. It had not been altered; fresh gravel had lately been spread upon its entire length. "Ah, there I see a dear old-time friend!" the young girl cried, pointing to a decaying wooden bridge, the arches of which spanned the stream at some distance.
"It leads to the fields on the other side——"
"Yes, to the orchard and meadows. There is a pretty old house there,—once a dependency of the castle,—embowered in grape-vines, with a broad flight of stone steps before the door. Oh, it is deliciously home-like and peaceful there! Susie used to make the garden her bleaching-ground; it was blue with violets every spring; I used to find the earliest there always."
"You may do so still; the little place has been mine since this morning." And as he spoke he cast a satisfied glance towards it.
Kitty thanked him, and looked down thoughtfully as she walked along upon the fresh gravel. Was her beautiful sister to reign as mistress in that house? Flora, with her haughty carriage, her flowing robes! Flora Mangold, whose aspirations were so lofty that a palace could hardly content them, at home in the lonely house, with its huge green porcelain stove and its worn wooden floors! How she must have changed for his sake!
A distant noise of wheels startled her. She looked up, and found herself so close to the villa that she could distinguish the pattern of the lace curtains at its windows. All was quiet there, but along the drive that swept by the stately front of the mansion a barouche swiftly approached, drawn by a pair of magnificent horses and glittering in all the pride of fresh varnish and silver mountings. A lady held the reins with a firm hand; her figure, shown to advantage in a dark velvet costume, trimmed with fur, sat airily and gracefully upon the high cushion. White plumes floated back from her brow, and about her classic face and white throat clustered fair curls.
"Flora! Ah, how beautiful my sister is!" Kitty cried, with enthusiasm, extending her hand involuntarily towards the fair driver; but neither Flora nor the councillor, who sat by her side with folded arms, heard her exclamation. The barouche flew past around the opposite corner, and was heard to draw up before the principal entrance.