This she said still standing, as if in haste to go.
'Oh, no. I thought you were going into the parlor, and I was about to ask you to sit with me a little while. I have something to say to you about Gus. I want you to talk to papa. You know papa will listen to you. Tell him—never mind, dear, to-morrow will do as well—I hope you will have a pleasant evening.'
'Thank you, dear. Good-by.'
She turned and opened the door.
By a sort of instinctive tenderness not denied to any human creature, Belle paused and looked back, and, hesitating a moment, returned; going to where her sister was reclining, she kissed her affectionately, without speaking one word.
Harriet's eyes suffused; she was quite unused to such a demonstration.
'My darling sister,' she whispered.
Belle was already out of the room. She bounded down the staircase, passed hastily through the hall, and was soon walking rapidly along the street.
One hour from that time she was on her way to New Jersey.
A clergyman had been provided in that State to perform the marriage ceremony.