Old and new; she seemed to be the child of both--gathering them both to her breast.
Yet, practically, what was going to happen to her, she did not know.

She did not say to herself, "It is all clear, and I am going to marry George Anderson!" But what she knew at last was that there was no dull hindrance in herself, no cowardice in her own will; she was ready, when life and Anderson should call her.
At the foot of the stairs Mariette's gaunt and spectacled face broke in upon her trance.

He had just arrived as she was departing.
"You are off--so early ?" he asked her, reproachfully.
"I want to see Philip before he settles for the night." "Anderson, too, meant to look in upon your brother." "Yes ?" said Elizabeth vaguely, conscious of her own reddening, and of Mariette's glance.
"You have heard his news ?" He drew her a little apart into the shelter of a stand of flowers.

"We both go next week.

You--Lady Merton--have been our good angel--our providence.