[Sidenote:  On the Way Home]

On the way home, neither Barbara nor Roger spoke.  They had nothing to say and the others were silent because they had so much.  They left the two at Barbara’s gate, then Allan turned the horses back to the hill road.  They were to have two glorious, golden hours alone before taking the afternoon train.

Barbara and Roger watched them as they went slowly up the tawny road that trailed like a ribbon over the pageantry of the hill.  When they came to the crossroads, where one road led to the church and the other into the boundless world beyond, Eloise leaned far out to wave a fluttering bit of white in farewell.

“And on her lover’s arm she leant,
And round her waist she felt it fold,
And far across the hills they went
In that new world which is the old,”

quoted Barbara, softly.

[Sidenote:  O’er the Hills]

“And o’er the hills, and far away,
Beyond their utmost purple rim,
Beyond the night, across the day,
Through all the world she followed him,”

added Roger.

The carriage was now only a black speck on the brow of the hill.  Presently it descended into the Autumn sunset and vanished altogether.

“I’m glad they asked us,” said Roger.

“Wasn’t it dear of them!” cried Barbara, with her face aglow.  “Oh, Roger, if I ever have a wedding, I want it to be just like that!”

XXIII

Letters to Constance

[Sidenote:  Faith in Results]

Roger was in the library, trying to choose, from an embarrassment of riches, the ten of his father’s books which he was to be permitted to take to the city with him.  With characteristic thoughtfulness, Eloise had busied herself in his behalf immediately upon her return to town.  She had found a good opportunity for him, and the letter appointing the time for a personal interview was even then in his pocket.

Neither he nor his mother had the slightest doubt as to the result.  Miss Mattie was certain that any lawyer with sense enough to practise law would be only too glad to have Roger in his office.  She scornfully dismissed the grieving owner of Fido from her consideration, for it was obvious that anyone with even passable mental equipment would not have been disturbed by the accidental and painless removal of a bull pup.

Roger’s ambition and eagerness made him very sure of the outcome of his forthcoming venture.  All he asked for was the chance to work, and Eloise was giving him that.  How good she had been and how much she had done for Barbara!  Roger’s heart fairly overflowed with gratitude and he registered a boyish vow not to disappoint those who believed in him.

It seemed strange to think of Eloise as “Mrs. Conrad.”  She had signed her brief note to Roger, “Very cordially, Eloise Wynne Conrad.”  Down in the corner she had written “Mrs. Allan Conrad.”  Roger smiled as he noted the space between the “Wynne” and the “Conrad” in her signature—­the surest betrayal of a bride.