"What have I done to deserve this happiness?" she asked of Margaret later, when the two went to their rooms.
"Much," said Margaret, gently. "Have you ever lived for yourself?—never since I knew you! I was thinking only to-day that it was not good for me to be with you, because you make so much of me and so little of yourself, that I am growing narrow and selfish."
"Nonsense! my dear," answered Mrs. Dorriman. "Oh! Margaret, if you knew how I hate being alone and having to decide things myself—now think of the comfort of having some one to go to!"
"And so able to help you," said Margaret, feelingly.
She also felt this burden of loneliness; felt it all the more because of the contrast between her own life and that of others.
Christie was much moved when the news was told her.
"It is coming near, my dear," she said to Margaret, "in the Lord's good time."
Margaret did not comprehend her.
Jean was most amusing upon the subject.
"And what for no!" she asked, when Mrs. Dorriman told her. "You have never had real true love, though Mr. Dorriman, poor man, was aye fond of you in his way; but he was a crookit stick, with no pith in him. This man's a man to be proud of. There's stuff in him, and you will be able to lean on him. It's not a light puff of wind will blow him down!"