One of my thoughts when I stood at the altar was whether Pierce in heaven knew of my happiness, and rejoiced in it, but I am sure he did. I said so to Aline afterwards, when I was alone with her for a minute, and she kissed me closely, and said she was sure he knew, and then she said sweetly that she was so happy in the two dear new brothers we had given her. So, if I had tears in my eyes as our carriage drove off, as Lance said I had, they were tears of pure happiness and thanksgiving. Oona always said that if Heaven meant a girl to be married, the husband would find her, though she were hidden in a bandbox. And here were we two girls fulfilling that wise saying of hers, and marrying the dearest of husbands after living the life of nuns. I said something of this to Oona, and she was well pleased. "You couldn't have done better, Miss Hilda," she said, "nor yet Miss Esther. The people do be saying they couldn't pick between your gentlemen, for though Sir Harry is as handsome as a picture, the Captain's that big an' strong an' kind-looking." So everybody seemed to smile upon our happiness. CHAPTER XXXI. ONCE AND FOR EVER. Freda had not been able to come to our wedding, to my grief. She had now been six months with Mrs. Des Vœux in Devonshire, and seemed at last to have found quiet happiness. She wrote to us that the old blind lady treated her more like a daughter than a dependant, and if she did not come to our wedding it was because she could not bear to leave her in her darkness, even for a little while. So after Lance and I had been three weeks at Killarney, which is, I am sure, the most beautiful place on earth, I acquiesced cheerfully when he suggested that we should cross to England from Cork, and wander about Cornwall and Devonshire for the remaining weeks of our honeymoon. "Oh, yes!" I said, "and we shall see Freda, shall we not? I have wished it of all things." For somehow I had felt sad about Freda being outside our happiness during those momentous times at Brandon. "As you will, my sweetheart," Lance had said, as he would have said, I believe, to any proposal of mine that did not involve our separation. I wrote to Freda to tell her of our plans, and by return of post I had a letter from her so full of delight, that I felt how her distance from us all must have hurt her during those years. She wrote: _It is the most ideal arrangement, for Mary Vincent and Jacky are to be here in June. But as for going to an inn, no such thing. There is a little summer cottage attached to this house, and just hidden in the combe beyond the garden-hedge. Mrs. Des Vœux has invited Mary and my boy to spend the summer there, and when she heard of you, she begged me to ask if you two would make use of it--Mary will take care of you both--you know how admirable a housekeeper she is, and she is the soul of discretion. Let me know when you will come. I am longing to see you and to meet my new brother._