"
So light was Billy's voice and manner that Marie dared one more
question.
"And he--doesn't care--for you?"
"I hope not--if William is going to marry me," laughed Billy again.
"Oh-h!" breathed Marie, with an odd intonation of relief. "Then I'm
glad--so glad! And I hope you'll be very, very happy, dear."
Billy looked into Marie's glowing face and was pleased: there seemed to
be so few, so very few faces into which she had looked and found entire
approbation of her engagement to William.
Billy saw a great deal of William now. He was always kind and
considerate, and he tried to help her entertain her guests; but Billy,
grateful as she was to him for his efforts, was relieved when he
resigned his place to Bertram. Bertram did, indeed, know so much better
how to do it. William tried to help her, too, about training her vines
and rosebushes; but of course, even in this, he could not be expected to
show quite the interest that Bertram manifested in every green shoot and
opening bud, for he had not helped her plant them, as Bertram had.
Billy was a little troubled sometimes, that she did not feel more at
ease with William. She thought it natural that she should feel a little
diffident with him, in the face of his sudden change from an "uncle"
to an accepted lover; but she did not see why she should be afraid of
him--yet she was.
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