"Nothing!"
His lordship's house was ablaze with lights and, though we were so
early, in the street immediately before it was a crowd that pushed and
jostled as we mounted the carpeted steps and were ushered into the
lofty hall. Here, the footmen having relieved us of our hats and
coats, we found the sedate Atkinson as gravely imperturbable as I
remembered him two years ago, who acknowledged my greeting with sedate
smile and grave obeisance and brought us forthwith to a chamber where
I found Lord Wyvelstoke in confabulation with my two uncles.
At our entrance they rose, and his lordship limped forward to welcome
us; and looking upon his slender, elegant figure, beholding his
impassive face with its air of serene and conscious power, I warmed to
the kindness of his smile, even as I had done two years ago.
Our greetings over, his lordship slipped his arm in mine and led me
apart.
"Well, Peregrine," said he, with his old, keen look, "I perceive your
two years of self-sacrifice have not been in vain; you are grown in
every sense. And to-night unselfishness shall have its full reward.
To-night, Peregrine, I render back to you your Diana, but a Diana
glorified--a woman, and one who has endeared herself to me by her
great-hearted and noble qualities. In her is nothing paltry, education
has not stunted or narrowed the soul of her. She has been faithful to
her task for your sake and faithful to you for Love's sake.
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