He yielded to her persuasions, saying as he closed his eyes, "Don't leave the room without waking me."
She was still there when he woke, close at his side and ready to greet him with an affectionate look and smile, though the latter was touchingly sad and there were traces of tears on her cheeks.
"How long have I slept?" he asked.
"Two hours," she answered, holding up her watch, "and there is the tea-bell."
CHAPTER XVIII.
What thou bidst,
Unargued I obey; so God ordained.
—MILTON.
"I hope you don't intend to hurry this child away from me, Horace?" remarked Miss Stanhope inquiringly, glancing from him to Elsie, as she poured out the tea.
"I'm afraid I must, Aunt Wealthy," he answered, taking his cup from her hand, "I can't do without her any longer, and mamma and little brother want her almost as badly."
"And what am I to do?" cried Miss Stanhope, setting down the teapot, and dropping her hands into her lap. "It just makes a baby of me to think how lonely the old house will seem when she's gone. You'd get her back soon, for 'tisn't likely I've got long to live, if you'd only give her to me, Horace."