A long time they talked together of the past, which now seemed to fade away so fast in the blissful joy of the present; and Magdalen told him of little Roger Irving, whose godmother she was, and of her mother and Alice, and the home at Beechwood, where Guy Seymour’s family would continue to live.
“It’s the same house my father built for Jessie,—for your mother,” Magdalen said, softly, and glanced up at the picture on the wall, whose blue eyes seemed to look down in blessing upon this pair to whom the world was opening so brightly.
Then they talked of Frank and Bell and Mrs. Walter Scott, and by that time the summer sun was low in the western horizon, and Hester’s tea-table was spread with every delicacy the place could afford; while Hester herself was fine and grand in her second-best black silk, which nothing less than Magdalen’s arrival could have induced her to wear on a week-day.
Guy, too, had made his appearance after waiting in vain for Magdalen’s return. Hester remembered him, and welcomed him warmly, and told him “the young folks was up chamber, billin’ and cooin’ like two turtle doves,” whereupon Guy began to whistle “Highland Mary,” which Magdalen heard, and starting up, exclaimed:
“There’s Guy come for me! I must go now back to the hotel.”
But she did not go, for Roger would not permit it, and he kept her there that night, and the next day took her to his favorite place of resort,—the rock under the pine,—and seating her upon the mossy bank knelt beside her, and gave thanks anew to Heaven, who had heard and answered the prayer made so often under that tasselled pine,—that if it were right Magda should one day come to him as his. Then they went all over the farm and down to the mill, where some of the operatives who had lived in Belvidere and knew Magdalen came to speak with her, thus raising themselves in the estimation of the less favored ones, who gazed admiringly at the beautiful young girl, rightly guessing the relation she held to Mr. Irving, and feeling glad for him.
No repairs were needed at Millbank, and but few changes; so that the house was ready any time for its new proprietors, but Magdalen would not consent to going there as its mistress until September, for she wanted the atmosphere thoroughly cleared from the taint of Mrs. Walter Scott’s presence, and it would take more than a few weeks for that. She liked Bell and she pitied Frank; but Mrs. Walter Scott was her special aversion, and so long as she remained at Millbank, Magdalen could not endure even to cross its threshold. Still it seemed necessary that she should do so before her return to Beechwood, and on the morning following the peaceful Sunday spent at Schodick she returned to Belvidere, which by this time was rife with the conjectures that Roger was coming back to Millbank and Magdalen was coming with him.
CHAPTER LV.
MILLBANK IS CLEAR OF ITS OLD TENANTS.
That afternoon Magdalen went with Guy over the house, where she was met by Frank, and welcomed as the new mistress. Appropriating her at once to himself, Frank led her from room to room, seeming pleased at her commendations of the taste which had been displayed in the selection of furniture and the care which had evidently been given to everything.