Was not this the summit of his desires?
Nadia smiled rapturously. Snatching her hands from Felix, she held them impulsively to Rona.
"Oh," said she, "I have wanted so long to see an English girl! And you are—you are—like the girls in story books, just as Mr. Vanston is exactly like the men!"
"Why," cried Rona in astonishment, "how well you talk English!"
Over the heads of the two girls the glance of the brothers met. There was no malice in Felix's steady gaze. He went to Denzil and took his hand. "It is long since we met," he said, kindly. "Am I to congratulate you, Denzil?"
The Squire made an effort to speak, but no words came. He licked his dry lips. Was this some device of his younger brother to torture him?
"Where is Aunt Bee?" he asked, that being the sole non-contentious remark that occurred to him at the moment.
"Lying up, lame, at St. Petersburg," said Felix. "But you need not be anxious. I met Veronica at Gretz, and have taken care of her. She has not felt the journey at all."
Denzil stammered, "That—that was good of you. I—er—feel that I was inconsiderate to suggest it. Of course, I did not contemplate her coming alone."
"Naturally," was the calm reply. "If it was an indiscretion on your part, it was a blessed one for me. I was able to renew my acquaintance with Miss Leigh, which had been of the briefest, in the favorable circumstances of a five-hundred-mile tête-à-tête; and now we understand each other perfectly."