Only once after the party did she go up to Aikenside, and then,
summoning all her fortitude, she gave back to Guy the bracelets and
the necklace, telling him she ought not to wear them; that ornaments
as rich as these were not for her; that her grandmother did not wish
her to keep them, and he must take them back. Guy saw she was in
earnest, and much against his will he received again the ornaments he
had been so happy in purchasing.
"They would do for Jessie when she was older," Maddy said; but Guy
thought it very doubtful whether Jessie would ever have them. They
were something he had bought for Maddy, something she had worn, and as
such they were too sacred to be given to another. So he laid them away
beside the picture guarded so carefully from every one.
Two weeks afterward Aikenside presented again a desolate, shut-up
appearance, for Agnes, Maddy and Jessie had returned to New York;
Agnes to continue the siege which, in despair of winning the doctor,
she had commenced against a rich old bachelor, who had a house on
Madison Square; and Maddy to her books, which ere long obliterated, in
a measure, the bitter memory of all that had transpired during her
winter vacation.