[CHAPTER XX]
A PROPOSAL
"THE Dickses will be here to-morrow, Nan," Aunt Patty said to me one morning more than a week later.
"Oh, I am glad!" I said involuntarily.
"So you have found our diminished household dull," said Aunt Patty, smiling.
"Oh, no, auntie, it is not that," I said quickly; "but I have grown very tired of hearing Miss Cottrell talk about Mr. Dicks and dilate upon the glories and delights that await her in the future."
Aunt Patty laughed.
"Poor Miss Cottrell!" she said. "It is rather absurd the way she plumes herself on the prize she has won, yet I am glad she is so happy. I fancy she led a lonely life before she came here."
"After 'dear Lady Mowbray' died," I said. "Well, I am sure I do not grudge her her happiness, though I should like to be sure that it will not lessen Paulina's."
"I think you will find that Paulina takes it philosophically," aunt said; "she is never one to fret or worry. I shall be glad to welcome her back. Do you know she has been away from us for more than a month? It hardly seems so long."