"What is the matter?" she asked curiously. "Why don't you drink your
tea?"
"It all seems as strange and beautiful as a fairy tale," he said,
looking at her earnestly.
Her hearty laugh and matter-of-fact tone dispelled his illusion, as
she said:
"It's all dreadfully real to me. I feel as if I had done more work to-
day than in all my life before, and we have only made a beginning. I
want to ask you about the place and the garden, and how to get things
done," and she plied him well with the most practical questions.
Sometimes he answered a little incoherently, for through them all he
saw a face full of strange weird beauty, as the firelight flickered
upon it, and gave a star-like lustre to the large dark eyes.
Hannibal, in the background, grinned and chuckled silently, as he saw
Arden's dazed, wondering admiration, saying to himself, "Dey ain't
used to such young ladies as mine, up here--it kind o' dazzles 'em."
At last, as if breaking away from the influence of a spell, Arden
suddenly rose, turning upon Edith one of those warm, bright looks that
he sometimes gave his mother, and said, "You have been very kind;
good-night," and was gone in a moment. But the night was luminous
about him.
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