She sighed again, and stood, with her habit half unbuttoned, looking
beyond the glass into the past few happy weeks. Yes, it would seem very
dull and dreary when he was gone.
But he still lingered on; his arm got well, his step was strong and
firm, his voice and manner less grave and moody. He rode or sailed with
her every day, Dick sometimes accompanying them; but he was only
postponing the hour of his departure, and putting it away from him with
a half-hesitating hand.
One afternoon, Dick burst into the sitting room--they were at tea--with
a couple of parcels; one, a small square like a box, the other, a larger
and heavier one.
"Just come by the carrier," he said; "addressed to 'Drake Vernon,
Esquire.' The little one is registered. The carrier acted as auxiliary
postman, and wants a receipt."
Drake signed the paper absently, with a scrawl of the pen which Dick
brought him, and Dick, glancing at the signature mechanically, said: "Well, that's a rum way of writing 'Vernon'!"
Drake looked up from cutting the string of the small box, and frowned
slightly.
"Give it me back, please," he said, rather sharply. "It isn't fair to
write so indistinctly."
Dick handed the receipt form back, and Drake ran his pen quickly through
the "Selbie" which he had scrawled unthinkingly, and wrote Drake Vernon
in its place.
Dick took the altered paper unsuspectingly to the carrier.
"So kind of you to trouble, Mr. Vernon!" said Mrs. Lorton. "As if it
mattered how you wrote! My poor father used to say that only the
illiterate were careful of their handwriting, and that illegible
caligraphy--it is caligraphy, is it not?--was a sign of genius."
"Then I must be one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived," said
Drake.
"And I'm another--if indifferent spelling is also a sign," said Dick
cheerfully; "and Nell must cap us both, for she can neither write nor
spell; few girls can," he added calmly. "Tobacco, Mr. Vernon?" nodding
at the box.
By this time Drake had got its wrapper off and revealed a jewel case. He
handed it to Mrs. Lorton with the slight awkwardness of a man giving a
present.
"Here's a little thing I hope you will accept, Mrs. Lorton," he said.
"For me!" she exclaimed, bridling, and raising her brows with juvenile
archness. "Are you sure it's for me? Now, shall I guess----"
"Oh, no, you don't, mamma," said Dick emphatically. "I'll open it if you
can't manage it. Oh, I say!" he exclaimed, as Mrs. Lorton opened the
case, and the sparkle of diamonds was emitted.