When her life-work was completed, and summed up in
those beautiful words: "A marriage has been arranged, and will
shortly take place, between Angela, daughter of the late John
Norbury ...." then she would utter a grateful Nunc dimittis and
depart in peace to a better world, if Heaven insisted, but
preferably to her new son-in-law's more dignified establishment.
For there was no doubt that eligibility meant not only
eligibility as a husband.
But it was not as "eligibles" that the visitors from the Red
House were received with such eagerness to-day, and even if her
special smile for "possibles" was there, it was instinctive
rather than reasoned. All that she wanted at this moment was
news--news of Mark. For she was bringing it off at last; and, if
the engagement columns of the "Morning Post" were preceded, as in
the case of its obituary columns, by a premonitory bulletin, the
announcement of yesterday would have cried triumphantly to the
world, or to such part of the world as mattered: "A marriage has
very nearly been arranged (by Mrs.
Pages:
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206