"God bless you, my dear lad! Good-by!" and the wheels went crashing over the gravel.
At the end of the driveway the Colonel checked his horse for a moment before turning into the main road. "Look back, boy," he said.
Jack looked, and saw Hildegarde and her mother standing on the verandah with arms entwined, gazing after them with loving looks. The girl's white-clad figure and shining locks were set in a frame of hanging vines and creepers; her face was bright with love and cheer. The slender mother, in her black dress, seemed to droop and lean towards her; on the other side the child clasped her hand with fervent love and devotion.
"My boy," said Colonel Ferrers, "take that picture with you wherever you go. You will see many places and many people, good and bad, comely and ill-favoured; but you will see no sight so good as that of a young woman, lovely and beloved, shining in the doorway of the home she makes bright."
Transcriber's Note:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.