'And there!' cried Fred, with an emphatic twist of his moustache,
'isn't she all I ever told you?'
'The last thing was a brick,' said Albinia, laughing, as she looked
at the smiling, confiding, animated face, not the less pleasant for a
French Canadian grace that recalled Genevieve.
'The right article for building a hut, I hope,' she said, merrily.
'But how and when could you have come?'
'This morning, from Liverpool. We did not mean to storm you in this
manner; we meant to have settled ourselves at the inn, and walked
down; Emily was very particular about it.'
'But you see, when he saw you, he forgot all my lectures!' said
Emily, taking his welcome for granted.
'Very proper of him! But, Fred, I don't quite believe it yet. How
long is it since we parted?'
'Six weeks; just enough to go to Canada and back, with a fortnight in
the middle to spare.'
'And pray how long has Mrs. Fred existed?'
'Three weeks and two days;' and turning half round to give her the
benefit of his words, 'it was on purely philanthropic principles,
because I could not tie my own necktie.'
'Now could I,' said Emily pleadingly to Sophy--'now could I let him
go back again alone, when he came so helpless, and looking so
dreadfully ill?'
'And what are you going to do?' asked Albinia. 'You can't join
again.'
'Join! why not? Here's a hand for a horse, and an arm for a wife,
and the rest will be done much better for me than ever it was
before.
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