Everybody seemed pleased and approving; and not the least welcome among the many letters of congratulation was one from Ned Talbot, now some months settled as steward of the Vanburgh property, and his earnest, outspoken appreciation of his new employer.
When the subject of the marriage itself was broached, however, Mr Rendell obstinately refused to hear of any date within a year.
“When she is twenty-one—not a moment before,” he said firmly. “I have a parent’s right to my Mops until she is of age, and not one day of the time will I give up for you or any man living.”
“And I’ve a husband’s right to her after that, and not one day longer will I wait, so we’ll fix on her birthday, the twentieth of May!” said Gervase, equally obstinate; and so it was settled. And the months had seemed as weeks, so rapidly had they flown past, until here was the day before the wedding, with Nan’s new boxes standing in the corner ready packed for that wonderful journey to foreign lands of which she had dreamed all her life long.
When the gong sounded, Nan looked guiltily at the blank sheet of paper; but it was too late to begin letters now—she must go downstairs, and trust to good fortune that the girls would not discover how she had wasted the time! Lunch was a scramble meal to-day, served in the morning-room on three different tables, and in the midst of a medley of boxes and parcels; but that was part of the fun of the occasion, and added to the general hilarity. A formal meal in the dining-room could be had any day, but it needed a convulsion of Nature to induce Mrs Rendell to hold her plate in her lap, and actually—oh, horrors! to help herself to butter with her own individual knife! The girls chuckled with delight at the spectacle, and then turned to greet Nan on her reappearance.
“Well, ‘Bride,’ finished your notes? Hope you have been a good little honest girl, and said what was true. ‘Dear Mrs Webb,—Thank you so much for the dear little pepperettes. It is so kind of you to think of me, and as I have already had seven pairs sent, I feel no anxiety whatever concerning my future happiness.’ ‘Dear Mr Cross,—Thank you so much for the vases which you have so kindly sent me. They are quite unique, I am sure, as I have never before seen anything like them. I shall put them in my drawing-room whenever I know you are coming, and keep them carefully in a cupboard when you are away.’ ‘Dear Mrs de Bels,—How kind of you to send me such a sweet little egg-boiler! We never use such a thing, but it will do charmingly to give away to some one else, and—’”
“It’s to be hoped no one will send you wedding presents, Kitty, if that’s the way you are going to receive them!” said Nan severely; but her reproof was received with bursts of derisive laughter.
“Ho! ho! ho! How innocent we are! how proper all of a sudden! Can you look us in the face and say you have not said as nearly that as you dared—that you have not deliberately disguised your true sentiments?”
“I can! I do! I have not written a single word this morning with which you could find fault!” cried Nan, with a boldness which betrayed her to her sharp-witted adversaries, for the cry was immediately raised—
“She hasn’t written at all! She has been sitting dreaming about him instead.”