"And you are not a ghost, after all?" he said.
"No; I was only masquerading," she replied. "I did it to frighten my cousins and spoil their party. Do you think I have succeeded?" she inquired, with naive anxiety.
He looked a little surprised.
"I do not know, I am sure," he said. "Why did you wish to spoil their pleasure?"
"Because they would not invite me to go, and said cruel things to me, besides," answered Golden, with a heaving breast.
"Why would they not invite you?" he inquired, more surprised than ever.
"Elinor said I was too young, but I should sooner think that grandpa guessed the true reason!" she replied with innocent frankness.
"What did grandpa guess?" he inquired.
"They were afraid for Uncle John's rich guest to see me. They mean to marry him to Elinor," she replied, readily, and without a suspicion that it was the "rich guest" himself who held her small hand that moment so warmly and tightly in his own.