It was not until later, however, that
Maggie attributed a certain pathetic, almost heart-broken, look in her
friend's lovely eyes to its true cause.
Hammond was a graduate of St. Hilda's College at Kingsdene, and the
three friends often talked of the happy meetings they would have
during the coming winter. He was a man of large property, and the
favorite amusement of these young people was in talking over the
brilliant life which lay before Hammond when he took possession of his
estates. He would be the ideal landlord of his age; the people who
lived on his property would, when he attained his majority, enter into
a millennium of bliss.
Maggie returned to St. Benet's, imagining herself quite heart-whole,
but happiness shone out of her eyes, and there was a new, tender ring
in her voice for which she could not account to herself and which
added a new fascination to her beauty.
Shortly after the commencement of the term Hammond met Miss Oliphant
by accident just outside Kingsdene.
"I was going to post a letter to you," he said. His face was unusually
pale, his eyes full of joy and yet of solicitude.
"You can tell me what you have written," replied Maggie in her gayest
voice.
"No, I would rather you read my letter.
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