Avas well enough tu uh)\c, tbey went away* together,
Will and his mother, Mavy and her boy. He was the
one who needed her most.
And when Hugh and Nelly were married, the Per-
civals sent the little bride a present, very pretty, and
of some value, which the (Jchterlonys in general ac-
cepted as a peace-offering. Winnie's letter which ac-
companied it was not, however, very ])eaceful in its
tone. "I daresay you think yourself very happy, my
dear," Winnie wrote, "but I would not advise you to
calculate upon too much happiness. I don't know if
we were ever meant for that. Mary, who is the best
woman among us, has had a terrible deal of trouble;
and I, whom perhaps you will think one of the worst,
have not been let off any more than Mary. I wonder
often, for my part, if there is any meaning at all in it.
I am not sure that I think there is. And you may
Agatha, and if you like you can kiss Hugh for me.
He always was my favourite among all the boys."
Poor Aunt Agatha heard this letter with a sigh.
She said, "My dear love, it is only Winnie's way. She
always liked to say strange things, but she does not
(hink like that." And perhaps on the whole it was
Aunt Agatha that was worst off in the end. She was
left alone when the young creatures paired, as was na-
tural, in the spring; and when the mother Mary went
away with her boy. Aunt Agatha had no child left to
devote herself to; and it was very silent in the Cottage,
* They went to San R(,mo, if any one would liko to know, for no par-
ticular reason that I can toll, except tliat the bnloverl physician, Dr. An-
tonio, has thrown the shield of his protection over that picfiirosfiiie little
place, with its goUIca orange groves and its delicious si-a.
320 MADOKNA MARV=
where she sat for liours Avith nothing more companion
ahle than the Ilenri-Deux ware, Francis Ochterlony'.s
gift, before her eyes. And Sir Edward was very infirm
that year. But yet Miss Seton found a consolation
that few people would liavo thought of in the Henri
Deux, and before the next winter Mary was to come
home. And she had always lier poor people and her
letters, and the Kirtell singing softly under its dewy
braes.
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