"Not in this particular, I assure you, Miss Rutherford," said the young man very earnestly, and as Marguerite fancied, with a hidden meaning in their depths.
"I presume you are aware that Mr. Tracy has sailed for Europe?" said Mrs. Verne, casting a meaning glance at Marguerite and watching the effect upon Mr. Lawson.
"Yes; I was somewhat surprised when he called at the office to make his adieu. It must surely have been an impromptu arrangement. Within a fortnight he had been planning a different course," said Mr. Lawson, quite cheerily.
"Sooner or later he will join Mr. and Mrs. Arnold," said Mrs. Verne, referring to the newly wedded pair with proud delight.
"That will be very pleasant, indeed," said Mr. Lawson.
"Would you not like to be one of the party, Madge?" cried Louise, with all the honest enthusiasm of her nature."
"I cannot say that I would," replied Marguerite.
"Oh! you are such an old-fashioned home body, Madge; I might know your answer without asking the question. Suppose I might ask you, Mr. Lawson," ventured Louise, persistent in getting a favorable reply.
The young barrister smiled, and that smile was a conquest in itself. It had powers to enable a mild and spirituelle maiden to form a resolve that was as unyielding as the marble hearthstone beside her, while on the other hand it exercised a spirit in the calculating matron that no human influence could brook.
Mr. Lawson had little thought of the agencies at work in those two beings of widely different natures, and of which time alone will interpret the result.