"You've just missed Hugo, mamma."
"Hugo!" said mamma, paling and almost falling backward. "He's been here?"
In her daughter's blue eyes there lingered that gleaming exultation, not completely softened as yet by the sweeter and now due love-light.
"He wants me to marry him next month."
"Oh, Cally!..."
Fairly tumbling forward from the door, Mrs. Heth gathered her daughter in a convulsive bear-hug, murmuring ecstatic nothings. Little she thought of Settlements or picayunish donations now.
"Oh, Cally!... Mamma's so happy for you, dear child!... And me never dreaming he was within a thousand miles! All's well that ends well, I say!... When'd he come? I'm wild to see him. Where's he staying? Will he be back this evening?"
She drew away from her unwonted demonstration, leaving her hands on Cally's shoulders, and the two women looked at each other, both a little flushed with excitement.
"He's at the Arlington, to stay only till to-morrow," said she, "and he's coming in after dinner to see you and papa."
"Oh!... He insists on not seeing you, I suppose?" fleered mamma, with enormous archness.