“To Hilda?” said Arthur.
“Yes; but how could you have guessed?” said Graeme, bewildered.
“I did not guess. I saw it. Why it was quite easy to be seen that events have been tending toward it all these years. It is all very fine, this brother and sister intercourse; but I have been quite sure about them since Harry wrote about them.”
“Well, Norman seems surprised, if you are not. He says, ‘You will be very much astonished at all this; but you cannot be more astonished than I was myself. I did not think of such a thing; at least, I did not know that I was thinking of such a thing till young Conway, my friend, asked permission to address my sister. I was very indignant, though, at first, I did not, in the least, know why. However, Hilda helped me to find out all about it. At first I meant she should spend the winter with you all I want very much that you should know each other. But, on the whole, I think I can’t spare her quite so long. Expect to see us therefore in November—one flesh!’” There was much more.
“Well done, Norman!” cried Arthur. “But, Graeme, I don’t see what there is to look grave about. She seems to be a nice little thing, and Norman ought to know his own mind by this time.”
“She’s a great deal more than a nice little thing,” said Graeme earnestly. “If one can judge by her letters and by Harry’s description of her—to say nothing of Norman’s opinion—she must be a very superior person, and good and amiable besides. But it seems so strange, so sudden. Why, it seems only the other day since Norman was such a mere boy. I wish she could have passed the winter with us. I think, perhaps, I should write and say so.”
“Yes, if you like. But Norman must judge. I think it is the wisest thing for him. He will have a settled home.”
“I do believe it is,” said Graeme, earnestly. “I am very glad—or I shall be in a little. But, just at first, it seems a little as though Norman would not be quite so much one of us—you know—and besides there really is something odd in the idea of Norman’s being married; now, is there not?”
“I confess I fail to see it,” said Arthur, a little sharply. Graeme had hardly time to notice his tone. An exclamation from Will startled her.
“What is it, Will?” said Rose: “Another wedding?”