Full of these anxious speculations, Le dressed himself and went downstairs to the parlor, where all the family and friends assembled before breakfast.
There he found them all, standing around the fire and chatting merrily while waiting for the bell to ring.
He gave them all a general good-morning as he entered the room.
And then he saw Odalite!
She separated herself from the group around the fire, came to meet him, placed both her hands in his, and—smiled!
The floors seemed to rock under Le’s feet like the deck of a ship on the ocean, so great was his emotion.
Why, this was the first time he had seen her smile since he had returned from sea. And now she smiled frankly up in his face just as she used to do before he went away.
And, oh! to him that smile seemed the promise of all blessed possibilities in the future.
“Good-morning, Le!” she said, in the old, natural tone that he had not heard for three years. “We are just talking about having in the fiddlers to-night for the children to dance, and sending for little Rosemary Hedge and the Grandiere girls and boys, and your particular friend, Roland Bayard. But, Le, we will have to send the break all around to collect them to-day. Will you go, Le?”
“Go—go!” said Le, a little confused by his surprise and delight at seeing Odalite so cheerful. “Go—I will go anywhere in this world, or do anything on earth you wish, Odalite!”