"It may appear unladylike, I know, but I think it right to stay by
Ellen. By the way," and Alice spoke rapidly now, "the doctor says
you'll never get well so long as you keep so closely in the house. You
are able to ride, and I promised to coax you out to-morrow, if the day
is fine. I shall not take a refusal," she continued, as he shook his
head. "I am getting quite vain of my horsemanship. I shall feel quite
proud of your escort, even if I have to tease for it; so, remember, you
are mine for a part of to-morrow."
She drew her hand from his, and with another of her radiant smiles,
swept from the room, leaving him in a maze of blissful bewilderment.
Never till this morning had a hope entered Hugh's heart that Alice
Johnson might be won. Except her, there was not a girl in all the world
who had ever awakened the slightest emotion within his heart, and Alice
had seemed so far removed from him that to dream of her was worse than
useless. She would never esteem him save as a friend, and until this
morning Hugh had fancied he could be satisfied with that, but there was
something in the way her little fingers twined themselves around his,
something in her manner, which prompted the wild hope that in an
unguarded moment she had betrayed herself, had permitted him a glimpse
of what was in her mind, only a glimpse, but enough to make the poor
deluded man giddy with happiness. She, the Golden Haired, could be won,
and should be won.
"My wife, my Alice, my Golden Hair," he kept repeating to himself,
until, in his weak state, the perspiration dropped from every pore, and
his mother, when she came to him, asked in much alarm what was the
matter.
He could not tell her of his newly-born joy, so he answered evasively: "Rocket is sold to-day. Is not that matter enough?"
"Poor Hugh, I wish so much that I was rich!" the mother sighed, as she
wiped the sweat drops from his brow, arranged his pillows more
comfortably, and then, sitting down beside him, said, hesitatingly--"I
have another letter from 'Lina. Can you hear it now, or will you read it
for yourself?"
It was strange how the mention of 'Lina embittered at once Hugh's cup of
bliss, making him answer pettishly: "She has waited long enough, I think. Give it to me, please," and taking
the letter that morning received, he read first that 'Lina was much
obliged for the seventy-five dollars, and thought they must be growing
generous, as she only asked for fifty.