“Yes, I had told them of Mr. Warfield’s flippant manner of speaking of his broken engagements, and they trembled for my happiness should I become his wife. That was our reason for inviting Anita at this time and the result is just as we expected.”
“And you are not crushed by the blow? Ah, Erma, dear, someone has taken possession of that gentle heart of yours.”
Erma’s downcast eyes and flushing cheeks confirmed her in this opinion in advance of the artless words, “Yes, Hilda, I compared him with Cecil Courtney, and he dwindled into insignificance beside that manly, reliable friend that I have known from babyhood. And oh, Hilda, Cecil has always cared for me and I did not know it! Nor did I know until Anita’s visit that I cared for him.”
“I congratulate you both from my heart; but Erma, dear, there is another side of the question to be considered. Was there not danger of your friend Anita becoming attached to Fred? You cannot deny that he is handsome and agreeable.”
“I told her that he was a known trifler, and she was not many evenings in his society until she saw that my opinion was correct. She went away perfectly fancy free, so far as Fred was concerned. I cannot answer for him.”
Erma had not long to wait to hear how Fred fared, for Anita’s second letter informed her that he had written an offer of marriage which she declined for two reasons, one being that she could not respect a man who so trifled with the affections, and the other, that after her return she promised herself in marriage to a young man worthy in every respect, absence proving that they were all in all to each other.
Winter, with its sleighing parties and other amusements, brought the young people together frequently, and Cecil Courtney was always Erma’s escort, both their families, the Lattingers, and in truth the whole neighborhood approving highly of the prospective union.
Thus the months passed, and one sweet June morning a company of dear friends were gathered in the parlor of the Merryman farmhouse to witness the marriage, after which the newly-made husband and wife went upon a wedding journey and then took up their residence in Baltimore, as happy a young couple as could be found in “Maryland, My Maryland.”
The evening of the wedding day Hilda and the children took one of their favorite walks to Dorton churchyard, and while the little ones, under the care of Chloe, gathered wild flowers that dotted the grassy enclosure, Hilda went to the resting place of Jerusha Flint.
When she reached the spot she was surprised to see a lady beside it, and more so to find in her no stranger, but Mrs. Robert De Cormis, of Philadelphia, the aunt, by marriage, of Mrs. Lura Warfield.