Of this scheme, however, we knew nothing at the time in Brandon.  Henderson was never in better spirits, never more agreeable, and it did not need inquiry to convince one that he was never so prosperous.  He was often with us, in flying visits, and I can well remember that his coming and the expectation of it gave a kind of elation to the summer—­that and Margaret’s supreme and sunny happiness.  Even my wife admitted that it was on both sides a love-match, and could urge nothing against it except the woman’s instinct that made her shrink from the point of ever thinking of him as a husband for herself, which seemed to me a perfectly reasonable feeling under all the circumstances.

The summer—­or what we call summer in the North, which is usually a preparation for warm weather, ending in a preparation for cold weather —­seemed to me very short—­but I have noticed that each summer is a little shorter than the preceding one.  If Henderson had wanted to gain the confidence of my wife he could not have done so more effectually than he did in making us the confidants of a little plan he had in the city, which was a profound secret to the party most concerned.  This was the purchase and furnishing of a house, and we made many clandestine visits with him to town in the early autumn in furtherance of his plan.  He was intent on a little surprise, and when I once hinted to him that women liked to have a hand in making the home they were to occupy, he said he thought that my wife knew Margaret’s taste—­and besides, he added, with a smile, “it will be only temporary; I should like her, if she chooses, to build and furnish a house to suit herself.”  In any one else this would have seemed like assumption, but with Henderson it was only the simple belief in his career.

We were still more surprised when we came to see the temporary home that Henderson had selected, the place where the bride was to alight, and look about her for such a home as would suit her growing idea of expanding fortune and position.  It was one of the old-fashioned mansions on Washington Square, built at a time when people attached more importance to room and comfort than to outside display—­a house that seemed to have traditions of hospitality and of serene family life.  It was being thoroughly renovated and furnished, with as little help from the decorative artist and the splendid upholsterer as consisted with some regard to public opinion; in fact the expenditure showed in solid dignity and luxurious ease, and not in the construction of a museum in which one could only move about with the constant fear of destroying something.  My wife was given almost carte blanche in the indulgence of her taste, and she confessed her delight in being able for once to deal with a house without the feeling that she was ruining me.  Only in the suite designed for Margaret did Henderson seriously interfere, and insist upon a luxury that almost took my wife’s breath away.  She opposed it on moral grounds.