It was impossible not to laugh at the startled, tragic tone in which these words were spoken, as the elder sister repeated them—
"And leave papa and mamma! And also, which is a very important matter, leave my dear little troubled sister Estelle. Positively, dear, though it has its sad side, of course, it does not seem too much of a sacrifice for me to make in order to be with Lewis. If it did, I should think myself unworthy of him."
"How strange!" said the younger sister, though she was wise enough this time to say it to herself. "I'm sure I don't see how she can do it. Besides papa and mamma, there is our beautiful home, and all the girls, and the lectures, and the circles, and—oh, well, everything. According to Addie Dunlop she will just be buried alive, surrounded by snow in winter and haying and harvesting in summer. What is there in Lewis Morgan that should make her want to go? I wouldn't like to go anywhere with him. He is nice enough; he is very nice indeed, for that matter. I like him as well, if not better, than any of the young men who call on us. But liking a man and enjoying a half-hour's talk with him, and going to a lecture or concert with him, is one thing, and going away from one's father and mother to spend a lifetime with him is another."
The conclusion of her soliloquy was that she said aloud, in tones more dismayed than before—
"I don't understand it at all! I never could go away with Lewis Morgan, and leave papa and mamma and everybody."
Whereupon the bride-elect leaned over her open trunk and laughed immoderately. Her young sister's perplexity seemed so funny to her.
"Of course you couldn't, you dear child," she said, when she could speak. "You are not expected to want to go away from papa and mamma and live with Lewis Morgan, though I am sure I hope you will come and live with us half the time. Farmhouses are very nice places in which to spend summer, Estelle. But you mustn't wear a woe-begone face over me, and think of me as making a sacrifice. If you ever give your heart to a good, true man, you will be entirely willing to go away with him, and until you are you must never think of taking marriage vows. Meantime, dear, of course you don't understand it; you are much too young. I hope it will be many a year before the thing will seem possible to you."
"It will never seem possible," Estelle said stoutly. "If I have got to love any man enough to be willing to go away from papa and mamma before I can be married, I shall have to be an old maid; for that is all nonsense. I know no man on earth could tempt me to do it."
"Very well," said the bride in much composure, "I am glad you think so; it is the best way to feel. To be sure, people change their minds sometimes; but at your age it is much the nicest thing to think. Meantime, dear, don't you worry about those tidies. I shall find places for them, where they will set the nice old-fashioned rooms aglow with their beauty. I am glad I have so many. Now, do you suppose that ebony box would fit in this niche? I would like to have it here, because we shall keep this trunk with us all the time."
"She hasn't the least idea how farmhouses look, especially that one. I wonder if she has the slightest notion how her future brother-in-law looks? Lewis Morgan indeed! I wish he had stayed in Australia!" And with another long-drawn sigh the troubled young sister went in search of the ebony box.