e. She was, to them, a nice
American who was being married as much because she had money as because
she was nice.

Aunt Julia voiced this aspect to her on the first opportunity, drawing
her away after breakfast to walk with her along the terrace while she
said, very gravely, 'Althea, dear, do you really think you'll be happy
living in England?'

'Happier than anywhere else in the world,' said Althea.

'I didn't realise that you felt so completely expatriated.'

'England has always seemed very homelike to me, and this already is more
of a home to me than any I have known for years,' said Althea, looking
up at Merriston House.

'Poor child!' said Aunt Julia, 'what a comment on your rootless life.
You must forgive me, Althea,' she went on in a lower voice, 'but I feel
myself in a mother's place to you, and I do very much want to ask you to
consider more carefully before you make things final. Mr. Digby is a
charming man; but how little you have seen of him. I beg you to wait for
a year before you marry.'

'I'm afraid I can't gratify you, Aunt Julia. I certainly can't ask
Gerald to wait for a year.'

'My dear, why not!' Aunt Julia did not repress.

Althea went on calmly. 'It is true, of course, that we are not in love
like two children, with no thought of responsibility or larger claims.
You see, one outgrows that rather naive American idea about marriage.
Mine is, if you like, a _mariage de convenance_, in the sense that
Gerald is a poor man and cannot marry unless he marries money. And I am
proud to have the power to help him to build up a large and dignified
life, and we don't intend to postpone our marriage when we know, trust,
and love each other as we do.'

'A large life, my dear,' said Aunt Julia. 'Don't deceive yourself into
thinking that. One needs a far larger fortune than your tiny one,
nowadays, if one is to build up a large life. What I fear more than
anything is that you don't in the least realise what English country
life is all the year round. Imagine, if you can, your winters here.'

'I shan't spend many winters here,' said Althea smiling. She did not
divulge her vague, bright plans to Aunt Julia, but they filled the
future for her; she saw the London drawing-room where, when Gerald was
in Parliament, she would gather delightful people together. Among such
people, Lady Blair, Miss Buckston, her friends in Devonshire, and of
Grimshaw Rectory, seemed hardly more than onlookers; they did not fit
i