“It ought to suit her, unless her home heretofore has been Paradise.”
After that I had not the least doubt of his engagement with Ada, and I began seriously to think of going back to Meadow Brook to take charge of a select school, which was about to be opened there. I had now been in Georgia about four months, and one night I went down to the pleasant summer-house at the foot of the garden. It was a beautiful moonlight night and the air was almost oppressive with the sweet fragrance of the flowers. Why I went there I hardly know, only I fancied I could better make up my mind as to my future course, if I were alone and in the open air. “Nobody likes me here,” I said to myself, as I took a seat within the arbor, “nobody but Halbert and Jessie. Mrs. Lansing is freaky and cross. Lina, selfish and indifferent, while Mr. Delafield thinks only of Ada’s return, which I so much dread, and to be rid of meeting her, I will go home before she comes.” So I decided that on the morrow, I would make known my determination to Mrs. Lansing, who I fancied would be glad, while Mr. Delafield would not be affected either way. I was nothing to him—he was nothing to me—so I reasoned, and then I made plans for the future, just as other maidens of eighteen have done, when their heart was aching with a heavy pain, whose cause they did not understand. I should never marry—that was a settled point—I should teach school all my days, and by the time I was twenty-five (it seemed a great way off then) I should have a school of my own, “Lee Seminary” I would call it, and I had just completed the arrangement of the grounds, which somehow bore a strong resemblance to those of Sunny Bank, when I was roused from my reverie by the sound of a footstep, and in a moment Mr. Delafield stood at the entrance of the summer-house. He evidently did not expect to find me there, for he started back at first, and then, hoping he did not intrude, came to my side, saying, “A penny for your thoughts, Miss Lee, provided they are not as gloomy as your face would indicate.”
“You can have them for nothing,” I returned, elevating my eyebrows, and drawing down the corners of my mouth as if I felt that in some way he had injured me.
“You are blue to-night, and have been so for several days. What is the matter?” he asked, at the same time throwing his arms around my waist with his olden familiarity.
Quickly remembering himself, however, he withdrew it, saying as he did so, “I beg your pardon, Miss Lee. I am so in the habit of taking such liberties, that I forgot myself!” and he moved off a little distance. I could have cried with vexation, for though it might have been improper, I was perfectly willing to sit there with his arm around me! It might have dispelled all idea of the “Lee Seminary” of which I was to be Principal! But he gave me no such opportunity, and folding his arms as if to keep them in their place, he continued, “But tell me, Miss Lee, what is the matter. You do not seem yourself?”
It was perfectly proper for me to tell him, I thought, and very deliberately I unfolded to him my plan of returning home within a week of Mrs. Lansing were willing, which I was sure she would be, as she had never been quite satisfied with my acquirements. When I had finished speaking, I turned towards him, not to see what effect my words had produced, for I had not the most remote idea that he would care. Great then was my surprise, when I saw the blank expression of his face, which looked darker than ever. Starting up, he walked two or three times rapidly across the little arbor, and then resuming his seat, said gently, “Have you been unhappy here, Miss Lee?”
I could hardly repress my tears as I told him how much I liked the south land, and how I should hate to leave it.
“Why then do you do so?” he asked; and I answered “I can do more good at home; nobody likes me here.”
He came nearer to my side, as he said, “Nobody likes you! oh, Rose, there is one at least who more than likes”——
It was the first time he had ever called me Rose, and it thrilled me with an indefinable emotion; but so impressed was I with the idea of his engagement with Ada, that I never dreamed of interpreting his words, as I now think he meant I should; and ere he could say more, I interrupted him with, “Yes—little Jessie loves me, I know, and when I think of her, I would fain stay.”