“Save the caresses for an hour later; they will keep, I am sure. This weather is not at all inviting, so pile into the waiting sleighs; that we may go where a welcome is prepared for you.”
“One moment,”—It was Wilbur’s strong pleasant voice. “I make bold to bring you a fellow traveler who has been of great value to us. Mr. Paul Arthurs, I think deserves a better fate than to be left to the tender mercies of a cheerless hotel on a night like this.” These words were followed by a hearty invitation and welcome. At first Mr. Arthurs protested against intruding so summarily on perfect strangers, but was shortly overruled, and a few minutes later the sleighs were flying over the smooth surface of the already beaten track, and in a very short time the piercing night air was exchanged for that of the warm rooms at the Westcot mansion. Willing, friendly hands were assisting each of the travelers to warmth and comfort. Mrs. Leland was supplied a soft warm robe, a loose wrapper from Imelda’s wardrobe. As there was no possibility of procuring their trunks before morning, dry hose and fur-lined slippers were provided for the weary nether limbs. After a refreshing bath Imelda’s deft fingers neatly and tastefully arranged the tired woman’s hair. Then telling her that she looked ever so much better than a half hour previous, she escorted her to the parlor to find that the men had just preceded them. Both the gentlemen guests had been supplied from Mr. Westcot’s wardrobe, and they looked fresh and bright enough to give the impression that they were there for an ordinary social call. Wilbur’s eyes lit up with a bright gleam as Imelda entered. Without a moment’s hesitation he held out both hands and drawing her close, held her face where the full light of the chandelier overhead fell upon it—for a minute drinking in the full glow of her beauty, watching the rich color come and go in the fair cheeks. Then taking the sweet proud face in both his hands he kissed the ruddy lips, once, twice, thrice.
“Now,” he said, “I want to look at someone in the——daylight I almost said; ’tis the gaslight, I mean, which is almost as bright.”
Norman was standing near, leaning with his elbow on the piano, watching the scene before him with a warm light in his eyes. Understanding well who Wilbur’s “someone” was, he stepped forward and extended his hand with a pleasant, happy smile lighting up the handsome manly countenance. For a few moments the black and blue eyes met, each reading in the depths of the other’s soul; each satisfied with what he saw and read there. It was a moment, “When kindred spirits met,” when “soul touched soul.” As they stood there, man to man, hand clasped in hand, each knew and felt that he had found a friend worthy of the name, and when a woman’s soft hand was laid on theirs, as if in blessing, it was Norman’s lips that touched the woman’s hand, but Wilbur’s dark face was laid close to hers, and as their lips met the whispered words fell upon her ear:
“Imelda, gem of women, in this precious brother you have found a jewel worthy of the finest setting. You have been a sweet and successful teacher.”
With the pure love-light in two pairs of eyes reflected in her heart she turned to leave them together. Little gushing Alice was just getting through making Mrs. Leland welcome when the eyes of the latter fell upon a sweet face, lit up by a pair of dreamy hazel eyes. Something in the face struck her as familiar, but she was unable to place it. The girl saw and understood and was in the act of moving forward when Imelda caught the look on Mrs. Leland’s face. In a moment more she stood at Cora’s side, laying her face to hers she said:
“Do you understand?”
“I do,” Mrs. Leland replied. “It is your sister.” Here again after a few moment’s conversation Imelda had the satisfaction of knowing that two hearts, both dear to her, would meet and love.
In glancing about she espied Edith deep in conversation with the stranger, the traveling companion of Mrs. Leland and Wilbur. He was holding her hand in a close clasp and looking into the dark eyes in a way wholly surprising in a stranger on such short acquaintance. The color was coming and going in the sweet face and her eyes had in them most plainly an answering warmth. He certainly was a very handsome man; one that any woman would be apt to turn and look at again when meeting him in a ballroom or on the street. Fair, with a light curling beard and a free open countenance; tall and well proportioned he was a picture of manly beauty. Edith looking up and, seeing her friend’s perplexed and wondering gaze, smiled and beckoned,
“You are surprised, I see, at our seeming unwarranted familiarity, but do you remember the day when Cora made her first appearance downstairs after the accident, and we were weaving such golden plans for our future? Well you also remember that Hilda spoke of a gentleman we had met in one of our summer vacations in the mountains? I see you do remember. I had thought the friendship of Mr. Arthurs was to be only a pleasant memory when lo and behold I recognize him in this traveling companion of our loved ones, and to make the surprise more complete, Harrisburg was his destination, as he was coming here on matters of business and intended remaining in the city for sometime.”