He came again very soon, and came often.  The restorations at Cumber had begun, and he insisted on our driving over to see what he was going to do.  We went in compliance with this wish, and I could not but observe how anxiously he questioned Milly as to her opinion of the alterations, and how eagerly he sought for suggestions as to the arrangement and decoration of the different rooms.  We spent some hours in this inspection, and stayed to luncheon, in the noble old tapestried drawing-room.

It was not very long before Mr. Egerton had renewed his suit, and had been accepted.  Had Mr. Darrell lived, the altered circumstances of the suitor would, in all probability, have made some alteration in his ideas upon this subject.  He could no longer have supposed Angus Egerton influenced by mercenary feelings.

My darling seemed perfectly happy in her engagement, and I shared her happiness.  I was always to live with her, she said, at Cumber as well as at Thornleigh.  She had told Angus this, and he was pleased that it should be so.  I thought that she would have no need of me in her wedded days, and that this loving fancy of hers was not likely to be realised; but I allowed her to cherish it—­time enough for our parting when it needs must come.  My youth had been brightened by her love; and I should be brave enough to face the world alone when she began her new life, assured that in my day of trouble I should always find a haven in her affection.

They were to be married in the following spring.  Mr. Egerton had pleaded hard for an earlier date; but Milly would not diminish her year of mourning for her father, and he was fain to submit.  The appointed time was advanced from April to February.  He was to take his young wife abroad, and to show her all those scenes in which his wandering life had been spent; and then they were to return to Cumber, and Milly was to begin her career as the wife of a country squire.

Julian Stormont came to Thornleigh, and heard of the engagement from Mrs. Darrell.  He still occupied his old position in the business at North Shields, which had been bought by a great capitalist in the iron way.  He received the news of Milly’s betrothal very quietly; but he proffered her no congratulations upon the subject.  I happened to be on the terrace alone with him one morning during his stay, waiting for Milly to join me, when he spoke to me about this business.

‘So my cousin is going to throw herself away upon that man?’ he said.

‘You must not call it throwing herself away, Mr. Stormont,’ I answered; ’Mr. Egerton is devoted to your cousin, and the change in his circumstances makes him a very good match for her.’

‘The change in his circumstances has not changed the man,’ he returned in an angry tone.  ‘No good can come of such a marriage.’

‘You have no right to say that, Mr. Stormont.’

’I have the right given me by conviction.  A happy marriage!—­no, it will not be a happy marriage, be sure of that!’