"Yes," she replied simply. "He wanted to leave me all he could; but I
would not let him. You know that I have enough, and much more than
enough, of my own. So why should he leave me any more?"
Drake took her hand, and kissed it gratefully.
"You have been very good to me," he said, in a low voice. "Better than I
have any right to expect, or deserve."
"No," she said. "And there is no need of gratitude. I wanted to
atone----No, that's not the right word. I wanted to make up to you for
the trouble I had, all unconsciously, caused between you and him.
And--there was another reason, Drake. Don't get conceited; but I took a
fancy to my nephew the first time I saw him." She laughed softly. "And
just at present I have no other object in life than the attempt to make
him happy."
Drake suppressed a sigh.
Happy? Oh, Nell, Nell! How vain and foolish all this splendor, now he
had lost her!
"So you turned my rambling old place into a palace? Well, it was a
substantial attempt, and if I am not happy, I shall be the most mulish
and ungrateful of men. The place is perfect; it lacks nothing, I should
say," he added, as they descended to the hall again.
"Only a mistress," thought Lady Angleford; but she was too wise to say
so.
"You haven't told me who is here," he said, as he watched her pour out
the tea which had been laid in a windowed recess from which was an
exquisite view of the lawns and the park beyond.
"Oh, a host of your friends," she said. "Do you like sugar, Drake? Fancy
an aunt having to ask her nephew that! I shall get used to all your fads
and fancies presently. There are the Northgates, and the Beeches, and
old Lord Balfreed"--she ran through the list, and he listened absently
until she came to--"and the Turfleighs."
"The Turfleighs?" he said, with something that was almost a frown; and,
seeing it, the countess noticed how stern his face had become.
"Yes. Lady Luce and her father will arrive to-morrow, just in time for
the dance. They are staying at a place near here--the Wolfers'. You
remember them? They are coming with her, of course."
"Quite a gathering of the clans," he said, as brightly as he could. "It
is a long time since Anglemere had such a beau fête. Who is that?" he
broke off to inquire. "One of the guests?"