"Oh, no! I reckon on recovering him—some day," he said, with a frank smile.
Laura flushed.
"Very soon, I should think. Have you noticed, Mr. Helbeck, how much better Augustina is already? I believe that by the end of the summer, at least, she will be able to do without me. And she tells me that the Superior at the orphanage has a girl to recommend her as a companion when I go."
"Rather officious of the Reverend Mother, I think," said Helbeck sharply.
He paused a moment, then added with some emphasis, "Don't imagine, Miss
Fountain, that anybody else can do for my sister what you do."
"Ah! but—well—one must live one's life—mustn't one, Fricka?"—Fricka was by this time jealously pawing her dress. "I want to work at my music—hard—this winter."
"And I fear that Bannisdale is not a very gay place for a young lady visitor?"
He smiled. And so did she; though his tone, with its shade of proud humility, embarrassed her.
"It is as beautiful as a dream!" she said, with sudden energy, throwing up her little hand. And he turned to look, as she was looking, at the river and the woods.
"You feel the beauty of it so much?" he asked her, wondering. His own strong feeling for his native place was all a matter of old habit and association. The flash of wild pleasure in her face astounded him. There was in it that fiery, tameless something that was the girl's distinguishing mark, her very soul and self. Was it beginning to speak from her blood to his?
She nodded, then laughed.