Leger from that disgrace. It was
not right the old should suffer and be afraid.
At last I put the letter inside my bodice and returned to the house. I
got upstairs unobserved and put it away in the tall, spindle-legged
Sheraton desk which has held all my girlish treasures. I was going to
destroy the two letters from Anthony Cardew presently. Then the old life
would be done with indeed.
"Bless me, child," said my grandmother, coming in on me as I closed the
desk, "what a colour you have! I have not seen you look so well this
many a day. What have you been doing to yourself?"
"Not rouging, Gran, I assure you," I said lightly. "I have been out in
the frosty air and it has made my cheeks tingle."
"Your wedding-dress has come home," she said, "and Richard is here. He
wants to see you in it, Bawn."
I remembered the superstition and wondered that she should have
suggested such a thing. If I had been going to marry Anthony Cardew I
should have refused, but since I was going to marry Richard Dawson I was
not fearful of omens.
"Very well," I said; "I shall put it on and come downstairs."
I had a young maid from Dublin, newly come to me, and she had not our
superstitions, or she was too respectful to oppose her will to mine.
Pages:
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210