The Imaginary Marriage | Page 7

all six letters were in the post. She wished
them good luck one by one as she dropped them into the letter-box, the
six sprats that had been flung into the sea of fortune. Would one of
them catch for her a mackerel? She wondered.
"You'd best take back that notice," Slotman said to her the next
morning. "You won't find it so precious easy to find a job, my girl; and,
after all, what have I done?"
"Annoyed me, insulted me ever since I came here," she said quietly.
"And of course I shall not stay!"
"Insulted you! Is it an insult to ask you to be my wife?"
"It seems so to me," she said quietly. "If you had meant that--at first--it
would have been different; now it is only an insult!"
Three days passed, and there came answers. She had been right, Mrs.

Ransome was dead, and there was no one who could do anything for
Miss Meredyth.
General Bartholomew was at Harrogate, and her letter had been sent on
to him there, wrote a polite secretary. And then there came a letter that
warmed the girl's heart and brought back all her belief and faith in
human nature.
"MY DEAREST CHILD,
"Your letter came as a welcome surprise--to think that you are looking
for employment! Well, we must see to this--I promise you, you will not
have far to look. Come here to me at once, and be sure that everything
will be put right and all misunderstandings wiped out. I am keeping
your letter a secret from everyone, even from Marjorie, that your
coming shall be the more unexpected, and the greater surprise and
pleasure. But come without delay, and believe me to be,
"Your very affectionate friend, "HARRIET LINDEN."
"P.S.--I suggest that you wire me the day and the train, so that I can
meet you. Don't lose any time, and be sure that all past unhappiness can
be ended, and the future faced with the certainty of brighter and happier
days."
Over this letter Joan Meredyth pondered a great deal. It was a
warm-hearted and affectionate response to her somewhat stilted little
appeal. Yet what did the old lady mean, to what did the veiled reference
apply?
"So you mean going, then?" Slotman asked.
"I told you I would go, and I shall. I leave to-morrow."
"You'll be glad to come back," he said. He looked at her, and there was
eagerness in his eyes. "Joan, don't be a fool, stay. I could give you a
good time, and--"

But she had turned her back on him.
She had written to Lady Linden thanking her for her kindly letter.
"I shall come to you on Saturday for the week-end, if I may. I find there
is a train at a quarter-past three. I shall come by that to Cornbridge
Station.
"Believe me, "Yours gratefully and affectionately, "JOAN
MEREDYTH."
There was a subdued excitement about Lady Linden during the
Thursday and the Friday, and an irritating air of secretiveness.
"Foolish, foolish young people! Both so good and so worthy in their
way--the girl beautiful and clever, the man as fine and honest and
upright a young fellow as ever trod this earth--donkeys! Perhaps they
can't be driven--very often donkeys can't; but they can be led!"
To Hugh Alston, at Hurst Dormer, seven miles away, Lady Linden had
written.
"MY DEAR HUGH,
"I want you to come here Saturday; it is a matter of vital importance."
(She had a habit of underlining her words to give them emphasis, and
she underscored "vital" three times.) "I want you to time your arrival
for half-past five, a nice time for tea. Don't be earlier, and don't be later.
And, above all, don't fail me, or I will never forgive you."
"I expect," Hugh thought, "that she is going to make a public
announcement of the engagement between Marjorie and Tom
Arundel."
It was precisely at half-past five that Hugh stepped out of his two-seater
car and demanded admittance at the door of the Manor House.
"Oh, Mr. Alston," the footman said, "my lady is expecting you. She
told me to show you straight into the drawing-room, and she and--" The

man paused.
"Her ladyship will be with you in a few moments, sir."
"There is festival in the air here, Perkins, and mystery and secrecy too,
eh?"
"Yes, sir, thank you, sir," the man said. "This way, Mr. Alston."
And now in the drawing-room Hugh was cooling his heels.
Why this mystery? Where was Marjorie? Why didn't his aunt come?
Then someone came, the door opened. Into the room stepped a tall
girl--a girl with the most beautiful face he thought he had ever seen in
his life. She looked at him calmly and casually, and seemed to hesitate;
and