When I returned home that evening, it was Willie not Lewis, who accompanied me.
CHAPTER XXII.
CLARA'S MARRIAGE.
Willie was anxious that an early day should be appointed for our marriage; but I was unwilling that our marriage should take place until the ensuing spring. I wished not so suddenly to leave my uncle for the long wedding tour which Willie had in contemplation.
Laura and Georgania, accompanied by their husbands, came at Christmas to visit their parents. It was indeed a joyful family reunion. We accepted our present happiness, and made no unpleasant allusions to the past. If Georgania retained any of her old ways that were not agreeable, I was too much occupied by my own new-found happiness to be annoyed by them.
Willie generously urged his father to use a portion of the wealth he had inherited from his deceased relative in settling his deranged business affairs, and Mr. Leighton finally accepted the noble offer. Accordingly, he paid off the debts, and again started a business, which, if on a smaller scale than formerly, rested on a firmer basis.
During the winter, my uncle made a will bestowing the chief part of his wealth upon me. The house in which we resided, he intended as a wedding-gift, saying
that we must accept of the gift encumbered by the giver, as he wished to reside with me during the remainder of his life.
"I have reserved enough," said my uncle, "for my own private use; and who has so rightful a claim to the wealth which a kind Providence has bestowed upon me, as the daughter of my twin brother?"