And within the month came another short letter:
May I come now, Daisie? Or have you changed?
The answer went back:
Be patient a little longer that we may not seem cold or selfish to the world. But I am the same loving Daisie.
Pretty Annette was married long ago, and had made her wedding tour to Europe. When she returned she had much to tell of the glories of Lord Werter’s ancestral home, and of the month she had spent as his guest.
“Oh, Daisie, how dearly he loves you, and what a happy bride you will be! Almost as happy as I am with Ray!” she added, with a fond glance at her adoring husband.
Ray Dering was a changed man—purged of his worst fault by sorrow and suffering, and humbly grateful to Heaven that had permitted him to atone for the evil he had wrought.
Lutie Fleming, too, was changed for the better.
She had conquered her love for Lord Werter, realizing at last its hopelessness.
And from hating Daisie Bell with the passion of a jealous rival, she had grown to love her as a sister.