"That provoking fellow!" Kate said, smilingly, looking after him; "it is just like him."
"Is papa here?" Rose repeated, wonderingly.
"No, my dear; papa is at Danton Hall, with his wife. It was impossible for him to come."
"Then how do you happen to be here, and with Doctor Frank?"
Kate laughed—such a sweet, clear, happy laugh—as she kissed Rose's wondering face.
"For the very best reason in the world, Mrs. Stanford! Because I happen to be Doctor Frank's wife!"
Rose sat, confounded, speechless—literally struck dumb—staring helplessly.
"His wife!" she repeated. "His wife!" and then sat lost in overwhelming amaze.
"Yes, my dear; his happy wife. I do not wonder you are astonished, knowing the past; but it is a long story to tell. I am ashamed to think how wicked and disagreeable, and perverse, I used to be; but it is all over now. I think there is no one in all the wide world like Frank!"
Her eyes filled as she said it, and she laid her face for a moment on her sister's shoulder.