The girl barely turned.
"Has the mail come in?" she asked, thinking it was a servant.
But there was no answer. The footsteps came nearer, and some one bent
down over the old man's chair.
"Father!" exclaimed a manly voice.
Lady Constance uttered a low cry, and Lord Barminster sprang to his feet
exclaiming.
"Adrien, my boy!"
"Yes, father, it is I," said Leroy, his voice hoarse with emotion. Then
he turned to Constance, who was gazing at him with tears of joy in her
eyes.
"Constance, my darling," he said gently. "Will you forgive me my long
neglect of you? My eyes have seen you through all the darkness of these
weary months. I have hungered for you all the time, and now I have come
into the light, I want you for my own."
As he spoke he drew her unresistingly within his arms, and the old man,
with one loving backward look, stole silently away to apprise Miss
Penelope of the joyful news.
A month later the church of Windleham was all ablaze with winter
flowers, while crowds of happy, rosy-cheeked children thronged the steps
and porch, for it was the marriage day of Lady Constance Tremaine and
Adrien Leroy.
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