“There is another favor I would ask of you, my dear one, and that is not to address me as ‘sir.’ It keeps the difference in our ages in very large figures before my eyes.”
“I never thought of that,” responded Hilda, laughing and blushing.
“I hope you will never feel under more restraint in my company than in that of Fred Warfield or any other person near your own age. I should be grieved to know that we were not in every way congenial and at home with each other.”
“I never felt otherwise with you; you have always appeared young to me,” said Hilda, sincerely.
“Thank you, my darling; I am truly glad to hear this. I have known two instances where the husband was double the age of his wife, and the lady in both cases seemed to be in awe of her husband. I would be miserable to know that you felt so toward me.”
“You need not dread my being in awe of you,” laughed Hilda. “You were somewhat younger than now when I first became acquainted with you. I suppose that accounts for my lack of deference. We have grown old together.”
Mr. Courtney had suggested an early day for their marriage, and there was nothing to prevent except the item of a trousseau, a subject which Hilda, penniless, and having no claim upon a human being, did not consider open for discussion.
Mr. Courtney believed that to be the cause of her reluctance to agree to his suggestion for an early day, and had he not appreciated her fine nature so thoroughly, might have been tempted through the aid of Mrs. Courtney, to do away with that hindrance. As it was, he could only await Time’s adjustment.
Hilda wrote to Mrs. Warfield and to Fred and waited for the second time in her life with keen anxiety for Mrs. Warfield’s reply. Would she be wounded because Hilda remained indifferent to the united appeal of mother and son? Would she resent the reticence of Hilda in not giving them knowledge of her attachment to Mr. Courtney in the nearly two years she had been with them and thus misleading Fred?
Smothering the pain in her heart, Mrs. Warfield’s letter was candid, cordial and affectionate. She wrote nothing that would mar the happiness of the girl whom she held blameless. She offered her sincere congratulations, and added to the measure of her kindness by enclosing a check for the purchase of a handsome outfit as a wedding present.