“They will never come,” commented Hilda, after reading the letter aloud to Mr. Courtney. “Fred will not wish to come, and Aunt Sarah would not travel so far unless Fred or Paul accompanied her.”
“After we are settled in our home we will invite them again,” said Mr. Courtney, “and if they are kept in ignorance of my knowledge of the engagement between you and Mr. Warfield it will save them embarrassment.”
“I shall never tell them unless they ask, and I scarcely think they will mention it to us, or to anyone.”
Mrs. Lura purposed making her annual visit to her uncle Robert De Cormis and his family in Philadelphia about that time, and Paul accompanied her there, and to the reception at “My Lady’s Manor.”
Upon her return to Ohio she discanted so volubly upon the beauty of the bride, the elegance of the bridegroom, and the grandeur of their home when in the presence of Fred that Mrs. Warfield was constrained to think that the chief pleasure she took in the visit was the opportunity it gave her to embarrass him.
Mrs. MacQuoid and Chloe were rejoiced that the home had a mistress, and that mistress, Hilda, and Sandy, who had resumed his position as coachman as soon as Mr. Courtney returned from Europe, was more than satisfied, and drove the iron-grays to town and back happier than a king.
Mr. and Mrs. Valentine Courtney made an effort to induce Archie to give up his wanderings and remain with them, but to all inducements he made the same reply, “No, Archie has plenty of homes; he must walk about to find people in the snow.”
“My Lady’s Manor” was a charming visiting place to the young people of the neighborhood, and to no one more so than to Erma Merryman, who looked upon it as a second home, and upon Hilda as a loved sister.
One morning, about two years after Hilda had taken up her residence there, Mr. Courtney came into the nursery with an open letter in his hand. The king of that small realm was Valentine Courtney, Jr., a healthy, handsome boy, “just as good as he is handsome,” being the opinion of each and all who saw him.
“I think I have a pleasant surprise for you, dear,” said Mr. Courtney, taking the infant upon his knee and looking with loving admiration upon mother and child.