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.
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