The next letter was black-edged, and was not signed "Eden." Edward's father had insisted on the marriage taking place before he died--it had, in fact, been performed by his bedside. It had been a sad time, but Mrs. Edward was very happy now. "My husband is so good to me, his thoughtful kindness is beyond belief," she wrote. "He anticipates my every wish. I should be indeed ungrateful if I did not love him dearly. Dear Mrs. Despard, this gentle domestic love is very beautiful. I hope I am not treacherous to my dead in being as happy as I am with Edward. Ah! I hear the gate click--I must run and meet him. He says it is not like coming home unless my face is the first he sees when he comes in. Good-bye. A thousand thanks for ever for all your goodness. "Your grateful Ella Cave." "Either their carriage drive is unusually long, or her face was _not_ the first," said Mr. Despard. "Why didn't she go and meet the man, and not stop to write all that rot?" "Don't, Bill," said his wife. "You were always so unjust to that girl." "Girl!" said Mr. Despard. And now the letters were full of detail: the late Miss Eden wrote a good hand, and expressed herself with clearness. Her letters were a pleasure to Mrs. Despard. "Poor dear!" she said. "It really rejoices my heart to think of her being so happy. She describes things very well. I almost feel as though I knew every room in her house; it must be very pretty with all those Liberty muslin blinds, and the Persian rugs, and the chair-backs Edward's grandmother worked--and then the beautiful garden. I think I must go to see it all. I do love to see people happy." "You generally do see them happy," said her husband; "it's a way people have when they're near you. Go and see her, by all means." And Mrs. Despard would have gone, but a letter, bearing the same date as her own, crossed it in the post; it must have been delayed, for it reached her on the day when she expected an answer to her own letter, offering a visit. But the late Miss Eden had evidently not received this, for her letter was a mere wail of anguish. "Edward is ill--typhoid. I am distracted. Write to me when you can. The very thought of you comforts me." "Poor thing," said Mrs. Despard, "I really did think she was going to be happy." Her sympathetic interest followed Edward through all the stages of illness and convalescence, as chronicled by his wife's unwearying pen.