Then she asked for a return of her confidence, and her request was granted with evident pleasure. Ellis was the chief speaker, the girls now and then assisting his memory till they had given Ethel quite a clear idea of their home life.
A very charming picture it seemed to her, and her heart swelled with increasing joy and gratitude at the thought that she would now have a place in that happy family—the place of one who possessed an equal right there with the others, and joyfully acknowledged by them, for Mr. Heywood had already embraced and called her “daughter” in such tender, fatherly fashion that she could not doubt her welcome from him.
CHAPTER XLI.
AFTER THE RAIN, SUNLIGHT; AFTER THE STORM, A CALM.
“Oh, love! how are thy precious, sweetest moments
Thus ever cross’d, thus vex’d with disappointments!
Now pride, now fickleness, fantastic quarrels,
And sullen coldness, give us pain by turns;
Malicious meddling chance is ever busy