'
'But how did you know all this, Molly? You were not here.'
'I was not very far off. I was behind those bushes, watching and
listening. I knew you were in love with Lesbia, and I thought you
despised me, and I was very, very wretched; and I listened afterwards
when you proposed to her there--behind the pine trees--and I hated her
for refusing you, and I am afraid I hated you for proposing to her.'
'When I ought to have been proposing to my Molly, blind fool that I
was,' said Hammond, smiling tenderly at her, smiling, though his eyes
were dim with tears. 'My own sweet love, it was a terrible mistake, a
mistake that might have cost me the happiness of a lifetime. But Fate
was very good to me, and let me have my Mary after all. And now let us
sit down under the old red beech and talk till it is time to go and get
ready for our wedding. I suppose one ought to brush one's hair and wash
one's hands for that kind of thing, even when the function is not on a
ceremonious scale.'
Mary laughed.
'I have a prettier gown than this to be married in, although it isn't a
wedding gown,' she said.
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