But time flew, long as the interval seemed at first between February and April.
I did not see half as much of my Dolores as I could have wished; Mrs.
Darbyshire and a host of other ladies absorbed her.
After a week or two my cousin Ethel joined her sage counsels to the rest in the matter of the bridesmaids' dresses. She herself was to be the chief of that important band, to which sundry male recruits in the shape of small boys were to be added by way of pages.
I never could quite gather how Ethel took my engagement. Her congratulation assumed the form of a short note.
"Dear Bill," it ran, "so you've done it!
"Well, dear old fellow, I saw it was a dead certainty at Valoro, and I congratulate you both and wish you every happiness with all my heart.
"Dear little Dolores is a right good sort, and if I were a man I think I should fall in love with her myself. I am sure she will make you happy; mind you take care of her!
"There is one thing I am sure you will be glad to hear.
"Give her a season or two over an easy country to begin with, and I assure you she will ride to hounds as well as any girl born and bred in the Shires. Believe me, dear Bill, I am speaking seriously, and you know me too well to think I would deceive you on such a matter.
"I leave you to teach her to shoot; I think every girl should be able to handle a gun; it gives her something to talk about to other girls' brothers."