"Let us wait until dinner," Huntington suggested. "Billy must be considered, for the dear boy believes himself madly in love with Merry,—even as I did once with her mother."
"Nonsense!" laughed Marian.
"It didn't seem like nonsense then, but I forgive you since you give me this sweet child, which I know you consider a greater gift than the one I would have asked."
"I never heard of this," Thatcher exclaimed.
"No man can marry a woman like Mrs. Thatcher without finding wrecks along the shore."
"A very pretty remark from a son-in-law," she retorted. "I shall hold you strictly to your loyalty!"
"Let me find Billy while you are dressing for dinner," Huntington said. "I'll overtake you after breaking the news gently to him."
"Don't be late," Merry whispered to him in parting. "When I leave you I shall think it all a dream."
"So it is, dear heart, but one which is sure to come true!"
Billy joined his uncle in his room, and the older man sat down beside him on the window-seat.