The countess smiled and shook her head. "There is no need to be afraid, my dear," she said shrewdly. "You will wear the Angleford coronet very well and very gracefully, if I am not mistaken, because you set so little store by it. And now here comes Drake! It is good of him to give me so long with you. Give me a kiss before he comes--he won't begrudge me that surely! Ah, you happy girl!" Drake drove up in a dogcart. "I can't get down; the mare won't stand"--he hadn't brought a groom, for excellent reasons. "Please tell Nell to get her things on as quickly as she can!" he said to the countess as she came out. Nell looked doubtful. "I will go upstairs first," she said. But Falconer was asleep, and when she came down she had her outdoor things on. Drake bent down and held out his hand to help her up. "You won't be long?" she asked, and she looked up at him shyly, for, after their long separation, he seemed almost strange to her. "Just as long as you like," he said, understanding the reason for her question, and glancing at the window of Falconer's room. "Dick tells me that he is better this morning. I couldn't say how glad I am, dearest Nell," he whispered, as the mare sprang at the collar and they whirled through the gates and down the road. "Is it you really who are sitting beside me, or am I dreaming?" Nell's hand stole nearer to his arm until it touched it softly. "I have asked myself that all night, Drake," she said, almost inaudibly. "It is so much more like a dream than a reality. Are we going through the village?" she asked, suddenly and shyly. "Yes," he said. "We are. Nell, I want to show my treasure to the good folk who have known me since I was a boy. Perhaps the news has reached the village by this time--for the servants at the Hall know it, and I want them to see how happy you have made me!" There could be no doubt of the news having got to the village, for as the dogcart sped through it the people came to the doors of the shops and cottages, all alive with curiosity and excitement. Drake nodded to the curtseys and greetings, and looked so radiantly happy that one woman, feeling that touch of nature which makes all men kin, called out to them: "God bless you, my lord, and send you both happiness!" "That's worth having, Nell," he said, very quietly; but Nell didn't speak, and the tears were in her eyes. "A few days ago I should have laughed or sneered at that benediction," he said gravely. "What a change has come over my life in a few short hours! There is no magic like that of love, Nell." They were silent for some time after they had left the village behind them, but presently Drake began to call her attention to the various points of interest in the view; the prosperous farms, and thickly wooded preserves; and Nell began, half unconsciously, to realize the extent of the vast estate--the one of many--of which the man she was going to marry was lord and master.