“Meg,” said Scott, “it is quite useless for you to threaten. Hereafter Zula will be under my protection. Just bear it in mind.”
“And,” said Zula, “if he finds it a great task he can just call on ‘Paul,’ and, mark me, Crisp, should he ever have occasion to use this weapon again he will not aim at your elbow.”
“Crisp, the devil is in the girl,” said Meg.
“Perhaps it is the gypsy blood coursing through her veins,” said Le Moyne, ironically, “but, Zula, darling, I can hardly believe that I have found you, and now that I have been made so happy at last, you must give me a portion of the love that you have promised Lawyer Wilmer, for you and I are the only survivors of the Le Moyne family.”
“I shall love you, dear uncle, for the sake of my father, if not for your own devotion and kindness to me.”
“God bless you, my dear girl,” said he, as he printed a kiss upon her forehead.
“God bless you, Miss Elsworth,” said June, following his example, and adding: “I suppose I may kiss Paul.”
“My dear Miss Elsworth,” said Guy, coming forward. “Is it possible that you are Zula—my little heroine of Clear Lake? I did not know that Zula possessed any talent as a writer. I thought that——”
“That you tore down the castle which she built,” she said, smiling. “You did tear the castles down for a time, but they would rise even though the builder met with boulders almost too heavy to carry. And Miss 328 Elsworth, I know, found more favor in your eyes than Zula ever could.”
“Will you ever forgive me?” Guy asked.