“A little longer patience,” is Milton’s whispered reply, “and your baby will be your own!”
Her hand went up to his face with a caressing touch.
“I know,” she smilingly said, “but it was Norma I meant this time.”
He drew the hand to his lips as with a knowing smile he answered,
“Ah, I see!”
Lawrence now and then let his eyes wander to the mother of his child, then they would turn to the group of fair young women where a pair of sweet gray eyes met his in a tender glance, then to rest on the little one reclining against his bosom. Which did he love most? His eyes lit up with a glad tenderness as they rested on the little one and then he drew the fair curly head so near him, close to his heart and hid his face in the fluffy masses; could he himself answer the question?
Many other faces we see which are all new to us, but they are all men and women worthy to be called by these names.
A group of the younger people have strayed down to the sweet-scented gardens gathering flowers as they go. Osmond and Homer are fast friends. Both are young men untouched by the rough hand of fate. Their young manhood, so perfect in its strength and beauty giving them the appearance of young kings, so proud, so lofty, was their bearing. Elmer, too, could scarcely be termed a boy any longer. His twenty years sat well on his broad shoulders and the eyes of the fifteen year old Meta shone bright as stars, her cheeks flushed as he chased her through the winding mazes of the park, and when he had caught her and kissed the rosy lips she submitted as a matter of course with the most natural grace.
Osmond had thrown himself at the feet of Hattie Wallace whose nineteen summers sat lightly on her shoulders. She was such a fairy and with rosy hued cheeks she listened to the soft, love-freighted words that fell in whispers from Osmond’s lips.
Homer’s companion was a dark, soft-eyed young girl timid and shy who had been an inmate of the home for one year, where she had come with her mother who had fled in the dead of night from her husband and sought refuge in this haven of rest, and Homer was teaching the sweet Katie her first experience in the mysteries of love.