“Pluck!” exclaimed the Judge, disarmed at once of all prejudice by Lawrence’s fearless manner of speaking. “Boy, there’s nothing pleases me like pluck! Give us your hand!” and in that hearty squeeze by-gones were forgotten and Lawrence fully restored to favor. “Now, drive home like lightning!” he said to Finn, as they entered the carriage; and as far as possible, Finn complied with his master’s orders.
But during that rapid ride there was sufficient time for questions and explanations, and before Beechwood was reached the Judge had confessed to the letters withheld and his reason for withholding them.
“But I made amends,” said he; “I docked the missionaries five thousand at one time, ten at another, and five at another. If you don’t believe it I can show you the codicils, witnessed and acknowledged, so there’ll be no mistake.”
But Lawrence had no wish to discredit it. Indeed, he scarcely heard what the Judge was saying, for the Beechwood windows were in view, and from one a light was shining, showing him where Mildred sat, thinking of him, perhaps, but not dreaming how near he was to her.
“You let me manage,” said the Judge, as they ran up the steps. “If Milly’s sitting with her back to the door, I’ll go in first, while you follow me on tiptoe. Then I’ll break it to her as gently as possible, and when she screeches, as women always do, I’ll be off; for you know an old dud like me would only be in the way.”
Mildred was sitting with her back to the door, and gazing fixedly into the fire. She was thinking of Lawrence, too, and was so absorbed in her own thoughts as not to hear the Judge until he had a hand on either shoulder and called her by name.
“Did I scare you, Gipsy?” he asked, as she started suddenly. “I reckon I did a little for your heart beats like a trip-hammer; but never mind, I’ve brought you something that’s warranted to cure the heart disorder. What do you guess it is?”
Mildred did not know and the Judge continued:
“It’s a heap nicer than diamonds; and I shouldn’t wonder if it hugged you tighter than furs. It stands six feet in its boots and has raised a pair of the confoundedest whiskers——”
He did not need to tell her more, for directly opposite and over the marble mantel a mirror was hanging, and glancing upward, Mildred saw what it was that would “hug her tighter than fur,” and the screech the Judge had predicted burst forth in a wild, joyous cry of “Lawrence, Lawrence,—’tis Lawrence!”