Then she lifted up her head and dashing the tears away turned her bright eyes upon him and said: “I won’t have it! I’ll never take it from you, never! I give it back,—my share of it, and I’ll make Katy give hers,—and you must take it.” Alex. had not intended to speak of the subject uppermost in his mind so soon, but something in Sherry’s face wrung it from him, and drawing it closer to him, he said: “I can only do that by taking you with it.” “Take me, then!” was Sherry’s prompt answer, as she hid her face in his bosom and began to cry again. After that it was very easy, and they sat for an hour or more talking of the past when Alex. first saw her at the theatre and again in the Park; of his call on Mrs. Pledger and learning that her name was Sherry; of the dog named for her, and the share she had in his thoughts until she came to Maplehurst. “Don’t talk about that,” Sherry said, with a sound of more tears in her voice. “It was a foolish girl’s quixotic idea. I wish I could blot it out.” “I don’t,” Alex. replied. “I am glad of it, as it brought you to me, who might never have found you, or the letter either, which takes Maplehurst from me and gives me you in return, a priceless payment, for which I can never be sufficiently thankful; and now, Sherry, kiss me in token that you are mine.” Only the birds singing in the trees heard or saw the reply, but Alex. was satisfied, and a great light of pride and joy was in his eyes when on his return to the house he said to his mother and sister: “Congratulate me, Sherry is to be my wife.” They were expecting it, and if in their hearts there was a wish that it was otherwise they did not show it. They would a little rather that Alex.’s wife had never been a waitress, but that could not be helped. The circumstances made a difference. It was a girlish escapade over which they would laugh when they talked of her to their friends. That she would be a leader in any society they knew, and remembering Maplehurst, made up their minds that Alex. had done well, and that in all probability they could come again to this charming spot, which had never seemed so lovely as when they thought it lost. It had been thought desirable to keep the story of the finding of the deed and letter from the household generally until Sherry knew of it. Now that secrecy was no longer necessary, Mrs. Pledger took it upon herself to carry the news to the employees. She and Katy had heard of the engagement from Alex., and Sherry had been kissed and congratulated and made to lie down, as Mrs. Pledger said she did the first thing after Joel had proposed and left, she was so wobbly in her knees. “I’m going to tell ’em,” she said to Alex., as she heard the clatter of dishes in the servants’ dining-room, where they were having their lunch.