He had meant at first to keep Godfrey for a few days, but he sent him back at once, and as soon as Edith could bear it, told her of his decision with regard to Gertie, and told her in such a way that she did not venture to oppose him, though her heart ached with a new pain as she thought of losing the girl who seemed so very near to her. After many inquiries it was decided that the Misses H——’s school in Buffalo was the place for Gertie, inasmuch as the training there was very thorough; and when in the spring Godfrey came home for a short vacation, bringing Macpherson with him, he was told that Gertie was in Buffalo fitting for a teacher.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
AFTER FOUR YEARS.
“Silently as the spring-time
Its crown of verdure weaves,
And all the trees, on all the hills,
Open their thousand leaves”—
So, silently fled the next four years, and I come now to the glorious day when summer was everywhere, from the perfume of the new-mown hay on the lawn to the golden flecks of sunshine on the river, and the musical hum of happy animal life heard on every side.
I had been an invalid for a long time, and had mingled but little with the outer world. With the affairs at Schuyler Hill, however, I was pretty well acquainted, for Edith and I were great friends now. At first she had stood aloof from me, but when she heard of my illness, she came at once, and, with kind words and many delicate attentions, made my life far happier than it could have been without her. After the little grave was made under the evergreen and Gertie went away, she came to me oftener, and, during the long rides which we took together in her pretty phaeton, she told me much of her life at Schuyler Hill. A very happy life it had been for the most part, though it had its dark side, as what life has not? Miss Rossiter had been a trouble while she stayed, and, even after she was gone, her influence was felt in Julia’s fitful moods and peculiar temper after the receipt of the letters, in which allusions were always made to “that woman who has usurped your poor dear mother’s place.”
And still Miss Rossiter came every summer to the Hill, and stayed a month or six weeks, and took upon herself such insufferable airs that Edith was glad when she was gone, and made the day of her departure a sort of jubilee.