"I am so glad. You don't know how hard I try to be the sort of woman that you approve of; I am always thinking of you, and of what I can do or say to please you."
"Dear Alice!" said Edgar tenderly, "you overpower me with the feeling that I can never do enough to deserve all this love."
"No, Edgar; it is I who ought to be grateful, because whatever niceness there is in me is all your doing. It is you who have moulded my character and formed my opinions; so that whatever good I may do in this world must be put down to your credit and not mine."
Which was quite true; and Edgar had every reason to be proud of his handiwork.
There was joy at The Cedars because of Alice's engagement to Edgar Ford. Mrs. Martin fairly beamed. She felt that Providence had had a hand in the matter—which was perfectly true; nevertheless when Providence had seemed to be bringing about a union between her daughter and Paul Seaton, Mrs. Martin, like a troublesome politician, was not willing to "serve under" the Leader in power. In this respect she was by no means singular; we are all naturally more submissive to the decrees of heaven when those decrees are in accordance with our own desires.
"My dear," she said to her daughter, "I am sure you will be very happy, because a woman naturally requires one stronger than herself to lean upon; and, besides, Edgar is an only son, so that whatever his parents have to leave will come to him."
"I could never have been happy as an old maid, mamma; the feeling that nobody needed me or cared for me would have killed me."
Mrs. Martin stitched at her bazaar-work with a complacent smile: "I know it would, love; you have such a very affectionate nature. And it is difficult for a single woman to take any social position, unless she is a lady of title."
Alice listened dutifully, and her mother rambled on: "It will be so nice for you, dear, when Edgar goes into Parliament; for I hear that members of Parliament and their wives are received in the highest circles. It is a pity dear Edgar isn't a Conservative—there is always such refinement about Conservatives—but that cannot be helped, I suppose."
"Oh! mamma, Edgar would never become a Conservative."