The following day when Darrell entered his mother's rooms he found her
with his journal lying open before her. Looking up with a smile, she
said,-"Darrell, my dear, I would like to meet your 'Kathie,' but that can
never be in this world. But you will meet her again, and when you do,
give her a mother's love and blessing from me."
Then, laying her hand on his arm, she added: "I understand now your
question regarding Marion. As I told you, it is difficult to judge
anything about her real feelings. For the first year after you went away
she came often to see me and frequently inquired for tidings of you, but
this last year she has seemed different. She has come here less
frequently and seldom referred to you, and appeared so engrossed in her
studies I concluded she had little thought or care for you. I may have
misjudged her, but even were that so and she did care for you still, you
would not marry her now, loving another as you do, would you?"
Darrell smiled as he met his mother's eager, questioning gaze. "If I had
won the love of a girl like Marion Holmes," he said, "I would do nothing
that would seem like trifling with that love; but, in justice to all
parties concerned, herself in particular, I would never marry her
without first giving her enough knowledge of the facts in the case that
she would thoroughly understand the situation."
His mother seemed satisfied. "Marion has brains, whether she has a
heart or not," she replied, with quiet emphasis; "and a girl of brains
would never marry a man under such circumstances."
Handing him his journal she pointed with a smile to its inscription.
"'Until the day break,'" she quoted; "that has been my daily watchword
all these years; strange that you, too, should have chosen it as your
own."
Had Darrell gone to his aunt for a gauge of Marion Holmes's feelings
towards himself she could have informed him more correctly than his
mother. She, with an old love hidden so deeply in her heart that no one
even suspected its existence, understood the silent, reticent girl far
better than her emotional, demonstrative sister.
A few days after moving into the rooms newly fitted up for her Mrs.
Britton gave what she termed "a little house-warming," to which were
invited a few old-time friends of her own and Mr. Britton's, together
with some of Darrell's associates. Among the latter Marion was, of
course, included, but happening at the time to be out of town, she did
not receive the invitation until two days afterwards. Meantime, Darrell,
who was anxious to meet the syndicate from whom he had received his
western commission two years before, left on the following day for New
York City. Consequently when Marion, upon her return, called on Mrs.
Britton to explain her absence, Darrell was away.