"Yet I can't help thinking of my unfortunate step-father, and of poor
Mrs. Jasher, and of Sidney Bolton. Oh, Archie, little as we can afford
it, I am glad that we allow Mrs. Bolton a small sum a year. After all,
it was through my step-father that her son met with his death."
"I don't quite agree with you, dear. Cockatoo's innate savagery was the
cause, as Professor Braddock did not intend or desire murder. But there,
dear, do not think any more about these dismal things. Dream of the time
when I shall be the president of the Royal Academy, and you my lady."
"I am your lady now. But," added Lucy, perhaps from an association of
ideas of color and the Academy, "I shall hate green for the rest of my
life."
"That's unlucky, considering it is Nature's color. My dear, in a year or
two this tragedy, or rather the three tragedies, will seem like a dream.
I won't listen to another word now. The green mummy has passed out of
our lives and has taken its bad luck with it."
"Amen, so be it," said Lucy Hope, and the happy couple went home,
leaving all their sorrows behind them, while the smoke of the steamer
faded on the horizon.