She clasped her arms round my neck, and laid her cheek fondly against mine.
“How you must have suffered yesterday!” she whispered, softly.
“And how happy I am to-day!”
The tears gathered in her eyes and dropped over her cheeks as she raised her head to look at me affectionately when I said those words. I gently unclasped her arms and led her to George.
“So you really did love him, then, after all,” I whispered, “though you were too sly to let me discover it?”
A smile broke out among the tears as her eyes wandered away from mine and stole a look at my son. The clock struck the hour, and the servant came in with breakfast. A little domestic interruption of this kind was all that was wanted to put us at our ease. We drew round the table cheerfully, and set the Queen of Hearts at the head of it, in the character of mistress of the house already.