The Moat House was indeed beautifully situated, and from the terrace which fronted the dining-room and drawing-room windows, the surrounding country was plainly visible for miles, pleasant meadow lands, and woods now decked in their freshest spring garb, stretching as far as the eye could see. The moat, which had originally been full of water, had been filled in, and had been prettily laid out as a rock garden, where shrubs of various kinds flourished, and flowers peeped between the rough boulders which looked as though nature and not man had placed them there in such picturesque confusion. Sir Jasper's eyes wandered from the tresses of golden laburnum flowers, and purple and white lilac now in full bloom, to the distant high road along which he expected to see the carriage pass which had been sent to the railway station, two miles distant, to meet his guests. He had not long to wait before it appeared in sight, and five minutes later it had passed up the wide carriage drive which cut through the rock garden in place of the bridge which had originally spanned the moat, and had drawn up before the front door.
Sir Jasper hastened to greet his visitors, doing so very cordially. He had not seen his niece since her girlhood, and he noticed she had greatly changed. Trouble, and many small carking worries, had left their traces upon her countenance; and a look of patient resignation had taken the place of the bright, hopeful expression which had once been her chief charm in his eyes.
"Welcome, dear Margaret!" he said. "I am rejoiced that you have come. You will have patience with an old man who has lost all his happiness in life."
"Do not say that, Uncle Jasper," she replied, gently, as she kissed his withered cheek. "I too have seen much sorrow, but it has been God's will."
"Still the old faith!" he exclaimed, with a look of surprise.
"Yes," she answered steadily, "still the old faith, that what God does is best." Her face brightened as she spoke, and he recognized the expression he had missed at first, as she quoted with a smile:
"God's in His heaven— All's right with the world!"
He made no reply, but turned to the girls, who were regarding him with slightly veiled curiosity.
"This is my elder daughter," Mrs. Wallis told him, indicating Celia, who smiled and blushed as Sir Jasper's eyes rested searchingly on her countenance.
"What is your name, my dear?" Sir Jasper asked, shaking hands with her cordially.