The truth was dawning upon Louie by this time, making her so weak that Fred was obliged to lift her from the carriage and support her after she was upon the ground, where more cheers greeted her, with more handshakes of welcome.
None of the people entered the house. They were only there to see “how Louie took it,” and when they saw how pale she was, with the tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to smile upon them, they felt that she “took it” as she should, and were satisfied.
There was a cheer or two more, and the people departed, leaving Fred and Louie alone, as Mrs. Lansing and Miss Percy had gone with the judge and Mrs. White.
“Oh, Fred, it was you all the time, and I was so stupid not to suspect who our generous landlord was,” Louie said, going from room to room with the eagerness of a happy child.
Nothing had been changed, and everything was in perfect order. “Spick and span,” Nancy said, following her mistress at a respectful distance, but not so far away that she could not see “kissin’ and huggin’ that went on every minute or two,” she confided to the cook and housemaid, who, having lived with the Greys before the failure, had been hired to take their former places, and, not being preferred creditors, were not supposed to take the same liberties as Nancy.
Every deep wound leaves a scar after it has ceased to ache, and Louie had been hurt so sorely that there would always be a slight shadow on her life when she thought of the past, but she was as near perfect happiness now as she ever could be, and the happiness seemed to increase as the summer day waned and the moonlit night came on.
They were sitting upon the piazza, and Fred’s arm was around her, while he told how he had planned buying the house and keeping his name from the public, because he thought she might feel more willing to accept the favor from a stranger than from him.
“It was sometimes hard work to keep it from you when we were abroad, and especially when I received the letter you wrote to your unknown friend, and which came to me on the ship which brought you. In it you said, “if there is one thing more than another which you desire, I hope God will give it to you,” and he has given me you—my heart’s desire—and I am more than repaid. I thought you would like your old home, and meant to give it to you. We have another house in Washington, you know. My mother and Miss Percy like it, and we will spend our winters there and our summers here, if it pleases you.”
“Pleases me! Oh, Fred, everything pleases me, and I am so happy that I can scarcely breathe,” Louie said, clutching at her throat as if for breath.
The high collar choked her, and she tore it off.