After leaving Horace, Ann went to the side window and tapped upon it. Receiving no response, she lifted the sash and called softly to her fiancé. Hearing her voice, Everett Brimbecomb appeared at the opposite window. The girl's heart thrilled with happiness as he smiled upon her.
"Run over a minute, Everett," she called.
"All right, dear heart."
His voice was so vibrantly low and rich that the girl experienced a feeling of thanksgiving as she stood waiting for him at the door. When he came, the lovers went into the drawing-room, where a grate fire burned dim.
"Horace says he'll go to Dryden, Everett," Ann announced, "and I'm so glad! I thought he might say that he was too busy."
Everett smiled, slipped his arm about the girl's waist, and for a moment she leaned against him like a frail, sweet flower.
Presently Ann noticed that a shadow had settled on her lover's face. Womanlike, she questioned him.
"Is there anything the matter, Dear?" she asked, drawing him to the divan.
"Nothing serious. I've been talking with Father."
"Yes?"
She waited for him to continue; but he sat silent, wrapped in thought for a long minute. At last, however, he spoke gloomily: "Ann, I wish I knew who my own people were."
"Aren't you satisfied with those you have, Everett?" There was sweet reproof in the girl's tones.
"More than satisfied," he said; "but somehow I feel--no I won't say it, Ann. It would seem caddish to you."
"Nothing you could say to me would seem that," she answered.
Everett rose and walked up and down the room. "Well, it seems to me that, although the blood of the Brimbecomb's is blue, mine is bluer still; that, while they have many famous ancestors, I have still more illustrious ones. I feel sometimes a longing to run wild and do unheard-of things, and to make men know my strength, to--well, to virtually turn the world upside down."
A frightened look leaped into the girl's eyes. He was so vehement, so passionate, so powerful, that at times she felt how inferior in temperment she was to him. Her heart swelled with gratitude when she realized that he belonged to her and to her alone. How good God had been! And every day in the solitude of her chamber she had thanked the Giver of every gift for this perfect man--since he was perfect to her. In a few moments she rose and walked beside him, longing to enter into the hidden ambitions of his heart, to read his innermost thoughts. Everett appreciated her feeling. Again he passed his arm around her, and for a time they paced to and fro, each thankful for the love that had become the chief thing in life.