Heath,--you never have
forgotten her?"
"Not I."
"There is"------
"And how came you all in the country so early in the season,--anybody
with your devotion to company?"
"To be made April fools, John says."
"Why, the willows are not yet so yellow as they will be."
"I know it. But we had the most fatiguing winter; and Mrs. Laudersdale
and I agreed, that, the moment the snow was off the ground up here, we
would fly away and be at rest."
"Mrs. Laudersdale? Can she come here?"
"Goodness! Why not? The last few summers we have always spent together."
"She is with you now, then?"
"Oh, yes. She is the least changed of all. I didn't mean to tell, but
keep her as a surprise. Of course, you will be a surprise to
everybody.--There, run along, children; we'll follow.--Yes, won't it be
delightful, Roger? We can all play at youth again."
"Like skeletons in some Dance of Death!" he exclaimed. "We shall be
hideous in each other's sight."
"McLean, I am a bride," said his wife, not heeding the late misanthropy;
"Helen is a girl; the ghost of the prior Mrs. Purcell shall be
_rediviva_; and Katy there"------
"Wait a bit, Kate," said her cousin.
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