Her lips quivered slightly and there was a wistful expression in her eyes as she lifted them to him and said:
“I am sorry that you are going, Mr. Hamilton. We shall miss you sadly.”
“Shall you?” he cried, eagerly, his face growing luminous. “Thank you,” he added, checking himself again. “I am sorry, too, to leave you; but, Miss Alexander, I shall be in New York early in the spring. May I hope to renew our acquaintance there? May I come to see you in your own home?”
A rosy glow leaped into the young girl’s face at this request. A heavy load dropped from her heart, a sweet, new hope began to bud within her soul.
“Yes, indeed; do come, Mr. Hamilton. I know that mamma will be glad to meet you,” she said, cordially.
“Thank you; but will you also be glad to see me, Vir—Miss Alexander?” the young man asked, in a low, eager tone, and there was an expression in his eyes of which he was wholly unconscious, but which told his fair companion much that he had fully intended should remain hidden deep within his own heart until he could stand before Mrs. Alexander, tell her how tenderly he had learned to love her daughter, and ask her sanction to his suit.
“Yes, I shall be glad,” Virgie breathed, softly, her white lids hiding the happy light in her eyes, though there was a tell-tale glow upon her cheek.
Some one was approaching them and he knew he must leave her, though she had never seemed so lovely to him as in that shy, sweet mood.
“I leave early to-morrow morning, therefore I must say good-night and good-by now,” he said, trying to smile as he extended his hand to her, though his voice was a trifle unsteady.
She laid hers within it and looked up archly, as she replied: