whistle found her at the window watching for the carriage and a
sight of its inmates. One after another the western trains
arrived, and the soft September twilight deepened into darker
night, showing to the expectant Grace the numerous lights shining
from the windows of Collingwood. Edith Hastings, too, imbued with
something of her mistress' spirit, was on the alert, and when the
last train in which they could possibly come, thundered through
the town, her quick ear was the first to catch the sound of wheels
grinding slowly up the hill.

"They are coming, Mrs. Atherton!" she cried; and nimble as a
squirrel she climbed the great gate post, where with her elf locks
floating about her sparkling face, she sat, while the carriage
passed slowly by, then saying to herself, "Pshaw, it wasn't worth
the trouble--I never saw a thing," she slid down from her high
position, and stealing in the back way so as to avoid the scolding
Mrs. Atherton was sure to give her, she crept up to her own
chamber, where she stood long by the open window, watching the
lights at Collingwood, and wondering if it WOULD make a person
perfectly happy to be its mistress and the bride of Richard
Harrington.




CHAPTER II.

EDITH HASTINGS GOES TO COLLINGWOOD.