Was it a sense of his goodness which made her cry, or was it something else? Adam wished he knew, but he would rather she should tell him of her own accord, and winding his arm around her, he lifted up her head and wiping her tears away, kissed her gently, saying, “Does Blossom like to have me kiss her?”
She did not, but she could not tell him so when he bent so fondly over her, his face all aglow with the mighty love he bore her. Affecting not to hear his question she broke away from his embrace and seating herself in the bay window, began talking of its pretty effect from the road, and the great improvement it was to the cottage. Still she did not deceive Adam Floyd, who all the while her playful remarks were sounding in his ear was nerving himself to a task he meant to perform. But not in any of the rooms he had fitted up for her could he say that if she would have it so she was free from him, even though the bridal was only a week in advance and the bridal guests were bidden. Only in one room, his dead mother’s, could he tell her this. That had been to him a Bethel since his blind mother left it. Its walls had witnessed most of his secret sorrows and his joys, and there, if it must be, he would break his heart by giving Anna up.
“I did not change mother’s room,” he said, leading Anna to the arm-chair where none had sat since an aged, withered form, last rested there. “I’d rather see it as it used to be when she was here, and I thought you would not mind.”
“It is better to leave it so,” Anna said, while Adam continued,
“I’m glad you like our home. I think myself it is pleasant, and so does every one. Even Dunallen complimented it very highly.”
“Dunallen; has he been here?” and Anna blushed painfully.
But Adam was not looking at her. He had never associated the heir of Castlewild with Anna’s changed demeanor, and wholly unconscious of the pain he was inflicting, he went on, “He went all over the house this morning, except indeed in here. I could not admit him to the room where mother died. Did I tell you that he had hired me for a long and profitable job? He is going to make some repairs at Castlewild before he brings home his bride. You know he is engaged to a young heiress, Mildred Atherton.”
It was well for Anna that her face was turned from Adam as she replied,
“Yes, I’ve heard something of an engagement made by the family when he was a mere boy. I thought perhaps he had tired of it.”
“Oh, no; he told me only to-day that he expected to bring his wife to Castlewild as early as Christmas. We were speaking of you and our marriage.”