“Yes, it is,” she said. “We are going to be married, Aunt Reliance. It is settled and no one can prevent it.”
Reliance looked from one to the other. She put a hand to her forehead.
“My soul!” she exclaimed. “Oh, my soul! Wait—wait! Let me understand this. Esther Townsend, does this mean that you and—and he are goin’ to run away—elope—whatever you call it—now, to-night?”
Esther nodded. “Yes,” she said. “That is just what it means. Oh, Aunt Reliance, can’t you see? I have made up my mind at last. I have thought of others and for others long enough. They haven’t been thinking of me at all, but of their own selfish pride and prejudices. It is time—high time—I thought of my own happiness. I could never be happy without Bob, nor he without me. So we are going to be happy together, that is all.”
Again Reliance looked at them both. There were no symptoms of faltering determination in either face. She looked long and steadily. Then she sighed.
“Oh, dear!” she murmured. “Oh, dear, dear! Well, I expected almost anything, after that bag was brought here this afternoon. Almost anything, but not just this. This is dreadful.”
Griffin frowned. Esther straightened. Her eyes flashed.
“Dreadful!” she cried, indignantly. “Is that the way you feel about it, Aunt Reliance? You! Well, if you think my marrying Bob is dreadful then we made a mistake in coming here. I thought you would understand—and sympathize—and help. But if you are going to—”
Her aunt broke in. “Hush, hush,” she said, quickly. “Don’t be foolish, Esther.... I don’t think your marryin’ him is dreadful.”
“You said you did.”