Here was another bright leaf in the unfolding of this rare flower—she would have none of what rightfully belonged to another.
As Mr. Thornton took leave of her grandfather, he said to Lily,—
"Do you feel like performing a charitable deed to-morrow? Will you go with me to see a dear old saint who has not long to live, and who would be cheered, no doubt, by a visit from you?"
She hesitated a moment, and her grandfather answered for her:
"Why, certainly she will go; she never refuses a call of that kind. You can go to-morrow, can't you, dear?"
And Lily answered "Yes" to her grandfather, but did not look at Mr. Thornton, not even when he said "that he would call for her at four, and would she please have some cut flowers ready for him?" Then he said "Good-night!" and went.
It was not a very good night for her, though. She went over and over that strange evening. How happy and how miserable it had been! He probably meant nothing, after all, but a joke, and her foolish vanity had made so much of it; but then, he looked so much more than he said. What right had he to do that? Was he, after all, nothing but a trifler?
And what if she were mistaken, and he had no friend of the sort she had imagined? Ah! That thought made her heart stand still when she remembered the words he had but just spoken, the grave, tender tones, and earnest looks. But there were the white violets, and he had said she was like them—this friend.
She was ready punctually when the carriage came, with a bouquet she had prepared for the old lady and the flowers he had ordered. The talk on the way did not extend beyond the beauty of the day and the objects they happened to pass. Arriving at the "Old Ladies' Home," they were at once taken to the room of the invalid.
Aunt Phœbe, as all her friends called her, had a calm, pleasant face, with gray hair parted beneath a white muslin cap, and eyes that did not seem to belong to a sick person, they were such cheerful, satisfied eyes. She had given her best days to Christian service, and "had now sat down to rest a bit before she went home," she said. Her face broke into a smile at sight of Mr. Thornton, as if he were a welcome visitor.