"I don't believe you meant to let me slip."
"You were splashing in the basin before I knew it. But it seemed a delicious piece of mischief then, and Miles' terror that his turn would come next—Elizabeth boxed my ears for it."
For the first time since their return home each came back to something like the old boy and girl frankness, and they laughed like children.
"How I loved to come here when I was a little girl. Your mother was certainly the most delightful companion for a child. I remember how she allowed me to brush her hair, it was so long and beautiful. I suppose my efforts were torture to her; how splendid she looked when she was dressed for a ball."
Pembroke was touched to the heart. His mother who died like Elizabeth, in her youth and beauty, was only seventeen years older than himself. He remembered that she had been a little more than a girl when he, her eldest son, reached up to her shoulder. Olivia and her father were always associated with his mother. Few persons remembered her, he thought bitterly. He had imagined that it was impossible for any one to know her without being inspired with the profound admiration he felt, along with his affection for her. But naturally it was not so—and he felt an inexpressible pride in hearing Olivia's words. They were not many, but he knew they came from her heart.
"Do you know," he said as they turned away and pursued the path to the house while Cave
