“Why do you shiver so?” he asked, wrapping her cloak around her, and almost lifting her from the car.
“I don’t—know. I guess—I’m cold,” and Katy drew a long breath as she thought of Silverton and the farm-house, wishing that she was going into its low-walled kitchen, instead of the handsome carriage, where the cushions were so soft and yielding, and the whole effect so grand.
“What would our folks say?” she kept repeating to herself as she drove along the streets, where they were beginning to light the street lamps, for the December day was dark and cloudy. It seemed so like a dream, that she, who once had picked huckle-berries on the Silverton hills, and bound coarse heavy shoes to buy herself a pink gingham dress, should now be riding in her carriage toward the home which she knew was magnificent; and Katy’s tears fell like rain as, nestling close to Wilford, who asked what was the matter, she whispered, “I can hardly believe that it is I—it is so unreal.”
“Please don’t cry,” Wilford rejoined, brushing her tears away. “You know I don’t like your eyes to be red.”
With a great effort Katy kept her tears back, and was very calm when they reached the brown-stone front, far enough up town to save it from the slightest approach to plebeianism. In the hall the chandelier was burning, and as the carriage stopped a flame of light seemed suddenly to burst from every window as the gas heads were turned up, so that Katy caught glimpses of rich silken curtains and costly lace as she went up the steps, clinging to Wilford and looking ruefully around for Esther, who had disappeared through the basement door. Another moment and they stood within the marbled hall, Katy conscious of nothing definite—nothing but a vague atmosphere of refined elegance, and that a richly-dressed lady came out to meet them, kissing Wilford quietly and calling him her son; that the same lady turned to her saying kindly, “And this is my new daughter?”
Then Katy came to life, and did that, at the very thought of which she shuddered when a few months’ experience had taught her the temerity of the act—she wound her arms impulsively around Mrs. Cameron’s neck, rumpling her point lace collar, and sadly displacing the coiffure of the astonished lady, who had seldom received so genuine a greeting as that which Katy gave her, kissing her lips and whispering softly, “I love you now, because you are Wilford’s mother, but by and by because you are mine. And you will love me some because I am his wife.”
Wilford was horrified, particularly when he saw how startled his mother looked as she tried to release herself and adjust her tumbled head-gear. It was not what he had hoped, nor what his mother had expected, for she was unaccustomed to such demonstrations; but under the circumstances Katy could not have done better. There was a tender spot in Mrs. Cameron’s heart, and Katy touched it, making her feel a throb of affection for the childish creature suing for her love.
“Yes, darling, I love you now,” she said, removing Katy’s clinging arms and taking care that they should not enfold her a second time. “You are tired and cold,” she continued; “and had better go at once to your rooms. I will send Esther up. There is plenty of time to dress for dinner,” and with a wave of her hand she dismissed Katy up the stairs, noticing as she went the exquisite softness of her fur cloak; but thinking it too heavy a garment for her slight figure, and noticing, too, the graceful ankle and foot which the little high-heeled gaiter showed to good advantage. “I did not see her face distinctly, but she has a well-turned instep and walks easily,” was the report she carried to her daughters, who, in their own room over Katy’s, were dressing for dinner.
“She will undoubtedly make a good dancer, then, unless, like Dr. Grant, she is too blue for that,” Juno said, while Bell shrugged her shoulders, congratulating herself that she had a mind above such frivolous matters as dancing and well-turned insteps, and wondering if Katy cared in the least for books.
“Couldn’t you see her face at all, mother?” Juno asked.