But somehow this did not hurt her as much as the seeming perfidy of Widower Bennett, whom she loved with all her warm heart and at whom she had been making tender eyes ever since his wife died a year or so ago. She had persuaded herself she would be the most proper wife he could find anywhere, and to find Leola preferred before herself was like the bitterness of death.
She could not help envying and hating the lovely girl with the weakness of a shallow nature suddenly roused to bitter jealousy, and when she hurried away from Wizard Hermann’s presence to her own room, she was half resolved to pack her trunk and go away forever to hide her humiliation and grief.
But while she bathed her stained face and smoothed her rather pretty brown hair, she reflected that she had nowhere to go, for all her relatives were dead, and she had no friends of any consequence.
Poor soul, how she longed for a home and husband of her own! But the realization of her dream seemed further off than ever now, and as she stood at her window gulping down her piteous sobs, she heard again, from the rose arbor, the gay laughter of the lovers, and curiosity made her descend to them, wondering what had caused their mirth.
Leola, as pretty as a flower in her white gown, had a letter in her hand, and she and Ray, with their heads very close, were laughing over it together.
“Oh, Miss Tuttle, this is so ridiculous I have laughed till I cried,” said Leola. “Only think, I have a lover, and he has made me a proposal of marriage.”
“And,” added Ray, laughingly, “it is such a brilliant and desirable match that she is almost sorry she had promised to marry me before she received it!”
“So you two are engaged?” cried Miss Tuttle, feeling the ground sink beneath her feet.
“Oh, yes, Miss Tuttle, and I know you are not surprised. Won’t you congratulate us?” cried Leola’s handsome lover.
“But please, please, don’t tell Uncle Hermann, for I think I begin to see through his plans now, and he will never consent for me to marry a poor artist when I could marry his rich neighbor, old Mr. Bennett,” laughed Leola.