Edward wrote an immediate agreement to the
proposition, mentioning Pine Towers as the place most convenient for
them to meet and lay plans for future action. He at once made
preparations to depart, for the idea of delay was intolerable to him.
The very atmosphere of the town was poisonous--the demands of society
not to be tolerated. He told his family that his old longing for the
wilds had come upon him, the sort of _ennui_ that nothing but the
odour of the woods could cure. The close of the day following found
him on the frozen shores of Kempenfeldt Bay, now clasped in the icy
arms of winter. The wind was wild among the leafless trees along the
avenue, but the desolation of his home was a visible response to the
sorer desolation of his heart.
The two or three old servants remaining in the lonely house were
delighted to see the young master home again. Olympia, the coloured
cook, whose high-sounding cognomen was usually reduced to Olly, gave
him a welcome equal to what might be expected from a whole plantation
of darkies. Her eyes and teeth shone in perpetual smiles, her gaily
turbaned head and dusky hands gesticulated in perfect time to the
exclamations poured out upon him.
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