“Yes, Donald, if you can bear to take such a wilful, good-for-nothing girl as I have been.�
“Tibby, dear, it is love I want, not gratitude. If it is because I saved your life—�
“Indeed, indeed, Donald, it is because—I—I love you, have always loved you,—ever since—�
“Since when, sweetheart?�
“Since I found you were the one man I could not control,� she whispered.
CHAPTER XXXII
A SURPRISE
At Boxwell Hall a large audience sat expectantly waiting the appearance of Mrs. Lucien.
Among the members present there were five with whom our readers are familiar. The lights were yet turned low, and there was the usual buzz and hum of low-voiced conversation which even those afflicted with superstitious awe could not repress.
“I had some trouble to persuade Major Walden to come,� said Nathan in an aside to his wife. “He has such a horror of this sort of thing, he flatly refused at first; but when I asked him as a personal favor to meet you, he consented.�
“I am sure he can’t denounce Mrs. Lucien, if she is as Elinor describes her,� said Lissa. “I have really begun to like her, just from the description. Ah, I wonder if she is coming now. What a perfectly seraphic face.�