“Very well,” remarked Mr. Arburton; “I’ll see the architect. I dare say it can be fixed.”
Mrs. Arburton and her mother were delighted, and when Mr. Arburton suggested that he wished the new house—
“You mean the new houses, dear.”
“We’ll waive that—it’s only a detail—our future domiciles are to be a surprise.”
“How lovely in you, dear. You mean you intend to build and furnish them complete without letting me see them?”
“That’s about the idea. Leave it all to me.”
“Then, my love, mother and I will visit Aunt Sarah in New York for a month.”
Mr. Arburton was hardly prepared for this. To lose his young wife for two months was not a wholly pleasant prospect. However, he expressed himself as resigned; for he would be very busy building and furnishing the new house.
“You mean our new houses, dear. I declare it is an inspiration. We can spend every other week in society and have the other week to rest in peace and be by ourselves, quite out of the world.”
The next day young Mrs. Arburton and her mother started for New York, and young Mr. Arburton went to the office of the defunct horse railroad company to see about a house lot, it being reported that they had real estate to sell—cheap.