"Why, you are only twenty, Gilbert, you know," she answered, looking at me in the most quizzical way.
"Yes, but I have been a man these ten years, and have loved you always, you know."
"Yes, you have, you sweet boy, and I will marry you to-day if it will please you," she answered, putting her arm through mine as if there were no other.
"Then we will be married before he goes, if he is agreed," I answered, kissing her. Now, seeing Mr. Seymour coming across the road, we ran forward to greet him at the gate.
"So you have heard the news, Gilbert?" he asked, as he approached, seeing our smiling faces.
"Yes; Constance has told me, and I wish you joy of your good fortune, for there is no one in the world half so worthy of it, or who would honor it as you will," I answered, kissing his hand.
"Then you still think well of me, a lord born and bred, hot republican that you are?"
"Yes, and a thousand times more than I ever did before," I answered, remembering his great goodness to me always; "but are all lords like you?"
"Yes, only better, though none of them have made the success I have as a tavernkeeper. And about that, what will Appletop do, I wonder, when I am gone?" he added, as if the leaving carried with it some pang of regret.
"It will never find anybody to take your place in the tavern or elsewhere, and your going will fill every one with sorrow, for there is not one who does not love you," I answered, thinking of his true heart and gentle kindness all these years.