I wrote off
at once to Val, asking all sorts of questions, and received quite a
savage reply, telling me to mind my own business. That letter alone would
have told me how Val repented; it was so unlike him. Do you know what I
did?"
"What did you do?"
"Sent him another letter by return mail with only two words in
it--'Elster's Folly.' Poor Val! She died of heart-disease, did she not?"
"Yes. But she seemed to have been ailing for some time. She was greatly
changed."
"Val is changed. There are threads of silver in his hair; and he is so
much quieter than I thought he ever would be. I wonder you took him,
Anne, after all; and I wonder still more that Dr. Ashton allowed it."
A blush tinged Lady Hartledon's face as she looked out at the soft rain,
and a half-smile parted her lips.
"I see, Anne. Love once, love ever; and I suppose it was the same with
Val, in spite of his folly. I should have taken out my revenge by
marrying the first eligible man that offered himself. Talking of
that--is poor Mr. Graves married yet?"
"Yes, at last," said Anne, laughing. "A grand match too for him, poor
timid man: his wife's a lord's daughter, and as tall as a house."
"If ever man worshipped woman he worshipped you, though you were only a
girl."
"Nonsense, Laura."
"Anne, you knew it quite well; and so did Val. Did he ever screw his
courage up to the point of proposing?"
Anne laughed.
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