I shall be happier so. I have never
known the comfort of a home for any length of time, and it does
not matter where I am. My mother, as Grace may have told you, was
a gay, fashionable woman, and after the period of mourning had
expired, I only remember her resplendent in satin and diamonds,
kissing me good-night ere her departure for some grand party.
Then, when I was eight years old, she, too, died, leaving me to
the care of a guardian. Thus, you see, I have no pleasant memories
of a home, and the cafes of Paris will suit me as well as
anything, perhaps. Once I hoped for something better, but that is
over now, Nina is dead, while you, on whom, as my wife's sister, I
have some claim, will soon be gone from here and I shall be alone.
I shall sell Grassy Spring,--shall place the negroes there in your
keeping, and then next spring leave the country, never to return,
it may be."
He ceased speaking, and there was a silence in the room which
Edith could not break. Arthur had told her frankly of his intended
future, but she could not speak of hers--could not tell him that
Collingwood's doors were ever open to him--that she would be his
sister in very deed--that Richard would welcome him as a brother
for her sake, and that the time might come when they could be
happy thus.
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