"I know, ma'am." The old soldier's eye lit up with a sudden spark. "In any case, with the help of God, he will have Nell to comfort him. Your brother's address is——"
"You are going to him?"
"It seems the one thing to do. I've no pride about offering my girl where I know she is deeply loved."
"You are a trump, General!" Mrs. Rooke said, with sparkling eyes.
"Thank you, ma'am," the General answered, blushing like a school-boy. "I was never one to sit with folded hands. The Lord didn't make me like it. And I've asked His direction, ma'am; I've asked His direction humbly, and I hope humbly that He is granting it to me."
"Well, God speed you!" Mrs. Rooke said. "Godfrey will be good to Nelly, Sir Denis. He has always been so trustworthy. And he has had so many hard knocks. He deserves happiness in the end."
"He shall have it, with the help of God."
The General never made any forecast without the latter proviso, although that was often said only in the silence of his heart.
The railway journey, unlike the last made in the cause of Nelly's happiness, went without a hitch. The day was a beautiful, bright, sunshiny one, with clear skies overhead. The General had the carriage to himself, so that he was able to sit with both windows open as he liked it. He felt the winter air quite invigorating as the train rushed through the pale golden landscape. Robins were singing in the bare trees, which showed their every twig outlined delicately against the pale sky. The brown coppices and hedges by which the train hurried were bright with the scarlet of many berries.
The General, sitting up spare and erect—he had never lolled in his life, and held all such soft ways only suitable for ladies—contrasted the journey with the last; and took the radiant day like a good omen. He wished Nell could have been with him to have the roses blown in her cheeks by the delicious fresh wind. However, he was going to bring her home roses, pink roses; the white rose in his Nelly's cheek did not at all please him.