continued--her strong features working a little with
emotion,--"do you really imagine that I have been blind all these
years--that, although you chose to withhold your confidence from me, I
was not aware of your trouble. You are a reserved, self-contained man
like your father, Malcolm--he always kept things to himself too--but
all the same you could not hide from your mother that your poor heart
was almost broken because the woman you wanted refused to marry you."

Malcolm took his mother's hand and kissed it. "You have been very good
to me," he murmured; "but I could not speak, the pain was too great.
Thank God, Elizabeth is mine now."

"I say, thank God, too"--and the keen eyes filled with tears. "Will you
bring her to me, Malcolm?"

"Will I not, mother! But you must send her a message."

"Tell her, that from this hour she shall be the dearest of daughters to
me, and that, for your sake, I shall love her dearly. And tell her--no,
I will keep that for my own lips when we meet--that my son, God bless
him! is worthy of any woman's love." And then, as Malcolm bent over
her, she folded him in her motherly embrace. At that moment Malcolm and
his mother fully understood each other.

Malcolm was anxious to be married as soon as possible; and as his
mother and Dinah were on his side, and there was really no reason for
delay, Elizabeth soon yielded to his persuasions, and a day was fixed
early in August. Cedric and Anna were to wait until the elder couple
returned from Scotland, and then Malcolm would give his adopted sister
away; and after a fair amount of grumbling, Cedric acquiesced in this
arrangement.

In the middle of June, Dinah and Elizabeth paid a long visit to 27
Queen's Gate, and Elizabeth did her shopping and saw the house in South
Kensington that Malcolm had described to her in such glowing terms. A
friend of his had recently bought it and furnished it in admirable
taste; and now his wife's ill-health obliged him to part with it, and
Malcolm was in treaty for it. The sisters were charmed with the house
when they saw it, and Elizabeth strongly advised Malcolm to take most
of the furniture. "It suits the house so exactly, and it will save you
so much trouble," she observed sensibly; "I know Dinah agrees with me."
And Dinah smiled and nodded.

"Die has made such a charming suggestion," continued Elizabeth, as she
stepped out through the French window at one end of the long
drawing-room on to a balcony, pleasa