I was not
expecting you so soon. I am so glad."
He knew she was by the way her snowy fingers twined themselves
around his own and by the fervent pressure of her lips upon his
hand.
"Mam-ma's tyin," said Nina, and then Edith's tears fell fast,
dropping upon the broad hand she still held, which very, very
gradually, but still intentionally drew hers directly beneath the
green shade, and there Richard kept it, his thumb hiding the broad
band of gold which told she was a wife.
It was a very small, white, pretty hand, and so perhaps he
imagined, for he held it a long, long time, while he talked quite
naturally of Arthur, of Grace, of the people of Shannondale, and
lastly of her children.
"They crept into my heart before I knew it," he said, releasing
Edith's hand and lifting Nina to his knee. "They are neither of
them much like you, my namesake says."
This reminded Edith of the mysterious shade which puzzled her so
much, and, without replying directly to him, she asked why it was
worn. Victor shot a quick, nervous glance at his master, who
without the slightest tremor in his voice, told her that he had of
late been troubled with weak eyes, and as the dust and sunlight
made them worse, he had been advised to wear it while traveling as
a protection.
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