Flowers everywhere,—pendant from baskets, and grouped in vases; vines everywhere,—laid as by a summer breeze, on marble busts and statuettes; blossoms everywhere:-but where was she whose thoughtfulness and taste was made manifest in all these?
Impatiently he passed to the drawing-room, then to the library, and a feeling of blank disappointment rose in his breast, for she he so much expected to see, was not there to greet him.
“I forgot to tell you,” said Aunt Susan, “that no sooner was the carriage gone for you, then Miss Evans was called to a very sick friend. She left this note for you.”
Hugh hastily opened it, and found a line expressing regret that such summons should come at such an hour, and welcoming him home with all the warmth of a true and earnest soul.
“O father! is it not heavenly to be back again?” and the sensitive daughter fell weeping with joy into her father's arms. He pressed her to his heart, held her as though she had been away from him all these years, instead of at his side beholding the wonders of the Old World. “Dawn, Dawn, my darling girl,” was all he could say.
“Where is she?” she inquired, suddenly rising.
“Who?”
“Miss Evans. Strange I have not thought of her since we entered our home.”
“She is away. Here is her note, which will explain her absence.”
Dawn read it without looking at the words, and said: