So Marjorie talked to her on all manner of subjects, and was apparently never in better spirits, until at last the long evening wore away, and alone in her own room she could sit by her fire, and gazing into its red blaze she could pull down stone after stone of her fragile castle in the air, and then, when it was all laid in ruins, could pray for contentment and for peace. Surely she ought to be glad to hope that his troubles were over. Surely she should rejoice, if the desire of his heart had been granted unto him.
[CHAPTER XXI]
LORD KENMORE
THE spring ran its course, and the beautiful days of early summer began, and Marjorie sometimes felt as if she had lived at Grantley Castle all her life. It was a most restful time for her after the hard work of the year before, and she felt that she had much for which to be thankful. Lady Violet was still obliged to lie still, although her health and spirits were daily returning, and she was far less easily tired than she had been when Marjorie first came.
The house was now full of company, and Lady Earlswood, whose time was much occupied, was the more gratified that Lady Violet was so charmed with her companion, and that the arrangement she had made had thus turned out so satisfactorily. She was always very gracious to Marjorie, and Lady Maude thanked her several times for cheering up "poor dear Vi," as she called her. Lady Maude was full of life and spirits, and was certainly not cut out for a sick room. Her energy knew no bounds; she delighted in golf, motoring, and bicycling, and though she was fond of her sister and very sorry for her, she was of too restless a nature to stay long in the sick room, and was therefore very glad to feel that Marjorie's presence there enabled her to go to her various amusements with a clear conscience.
"Vi likes Miss Douglas," Lady Maude would say to her friends, "they get on wonderfully well together, and she keeps her in a far better temper than I can do."
So Marjorie had very few difficulties to contend with in her new position; even Collins the maid was glad that she had come and was able to relieve her from constant attendance on her young mistress, and from the fretful fault-finding to which she had been obliged to submit before Miss Douglas arrived.
Marjorie was very thankful for all this, and for the letters from home, which were very cheering. Leila was becoming quite strong again, and the money Marjorie was earning, and which she had been able to send home at the end of her first three months at Grantley Castle, had enabled her mother to buy many much-needed things for the household, and had considerably relieved the strain consequent upon the loss of the insurance money.
Marjorie searched the home letters carefully for any mention of Captain Fortescue, as she still called him to herself, but there was no allusion whatever to him. They had evidently heard nothing of him or from him.
Lady Violet did not speak to her again about her fiancé. She knew that she often had letters from him, and she wrote to him in pencil from her couch, but this was in the afternoon after luncheon, when Marjorie had gone out for her daily walk and when Collins was in attendance, and the letter had been carried down to the post-bag before her return.