“So your visitor has come at last, girlie,” she said, as Celia bent down and kissed her. “I told him that I thought you would give him a hearty welcome. Was I right, Dr. Geoff?”
“Yes, quite right,” the young doctor replied, as he gripped her hand. “I can never be sufficiently grateful to you for your kindness, Lady Marjorie.”
“You really were the silliest pair of lovers I ever came across,” Marjorie said, as she glanced at them and thought what a well-matched couple they made. “I knew that each of you was just longing for the other; and yet you both held aloof, although there was no cause or just impediment why you should not have come together long ago. So I determined to intervene and make you happy. And, judging by the looks of you both, I think I have succeeded.”
“You have, indeed!” rejoined Geoffrey, as he drew his sweetheart closer to him; and Celia, whose heart was too full for words, expressed by her shining eyes, the great happiness which was hers at last.
* * * * *
On the deck of a channel-steamer bound for Calais stood a young girl, shading her eyes with her hand. She was watching the land as it receded from view, yet with no feeling of regret, for she was making the journey with the one she loved best in the world.
Less than twenty-four hours ago she had stood beside him at the altar, and made her marriage vows. The “Voice that breathed o’er Eden” was still ringing in her ears; the crashing chords of the Wedding March seemed interwoven with the throbbing of the ship’s engines; the very air seemed full of the far-off sound of wedding-bells.
It was a bright spring morning, a day fit for the renewing of energy and hope. All around was sunlight: on the shimmering waters, the polished deck, and on the girl’s bright hair. It seemed to her like a happy omen, symbolizing the sunshine on the sea of life. With a deep sigh of happiness she turned away; and, looking up, encountered the fond gaze of her lover-husband.
“Why such a sigh, sweet?” he asked, tenderly placing her hand within his own. “Of what were you thinking, my little wife?”
“Many things, Geoffrey,” she answered softly, her face lit up with a radiant smile. And then, as they both continued to gaze landwards, she added: “But—chiefly—that life is full of joy;—and God is good!”