"
They talked for half an hour longer in a desultory fashion, as those
talk who are full of thoughts they do not share; and when they parted
Richard asked Elizabeth for a rose she had gathered as they walked
home together. He asked it distinctly, the beaming glance of his dark
eyes giving to the request a meaning she could not, and did not,
mistake. Yet she laid it in his hand, and as their eyes met, he knew
that as "there is a budding morrow in the midnight," so also there was
a budding love in the rose-gift.
CHAPTER II.
"I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee."
Acts xviii, 10.
"There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from
above the mercy-seat." Exod. xxv, 22.
No man liveth unto himself. In that green, flowery Eden, with the soft
winds blowing in at the open doors and windows, and the white sunshine
glorifying every thing, there was the whisper of sorrow as well as
the whisper of love. The homely life of the village, with its absorbing
tragedy, touched all hearts; for men and women belie their nature when
they do not weep with those that weep.
At the close of the London season the Elthams returned to their country
home, and there was much visiting and good-will. One evening they were
sitting in Eltham drawing-room after dinner.
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