Even then Jerrie did not see him, but when she took a step or two forward to look into the grave before it was filled up, and someone put a hand upon her shoulder and said, 'Not too near, Jerrie,' she started suddenly, with a suppressed cry, and turning, saw Harold standing by her, tall, and erect, and self-possessed, as he faced the multitude, some of whom had suspected him of a crime, but all of whom were ready now to do him justice and bid him welcome home.
'Oh, Harold,' Jerrie said, as she grasped his arm, 'I am so glad you are here. I wish you had come before.'
Harold could not reply, for they were now leaving the spot, and many gathered around him; first and foremost, Peterkin, who came tramping through the grass, puffing like an engine, and, unmindful of the time or place, slapping him upon the shoulder, as he said: 'Well, my boy, glad to see you back, 'pon my soul, I be; but you flustrated all my plans. I was meanin' to give you an oblation; got it, all arranged, and you spiled it by takin' us onawares, like a thief in the night. I beg your pardon,' he continued, as he met a curious look in Harold's eyes, 'I'm a blunderin' cuss, I be. I didn't mean nothin', I've ever meant nothin', and if I hev' I'm sorry for it.'
Harold did not hear the last, for he was handing Jerrie into the carriage with her father, who bade him enter, too; saying they would leave him at the cottage where he wished to go as soon as possible. There was no time for much conversation before the cottage was reached, and Harold alighted at the gate, and no allusion whatever had been made to Jerrie's changed relations until Harold stood looking at her as she kept her seat by her father and made no sign of an intention to stop. Then he said, as calmly as he could:
'Do you stay at the Park House altogether now?'
'Oh, no,' she answered quickly. 'I have been there a great deal with Maude, but am coming home to-night. I could not leave grandma alone, you know.'
She acknowledged the home and the relationship still, and Harold's face flushed with a look of pleasure, which deepened in intensity when Arthur, with a wave of the hand habitual to him, said:
'I must keep her now that you are here to see to the grandmother, but will let you have her to-night. Come up later, if you like, and walk home with her.'
'I shall be most happy to do so,' Harold said, and then the carriage drove away, while he went in to his grandmother, who had not attended the funeral, but who knew that he had returned and was waiting for him.