"Oh, if
it were possible--if it were possible!" she murmured, "I would say I was
too happy. God is too good to me--to have them both given back to me in
one day--both of them in one day--"
"Natalie," said he, gently, "it is only a possibility, you know."
"But it is possible!" she said; and there was a quick, strange, happy
light in her face. "It _is_ possible, is it not?"
Then she glanced at her mother; and her face, that had been somewhat
pale, was pale no longer; the blood mounted to her forehead; her eyes
were downcast.
"It would please you, would it not?" she said, somewhat formally and in
a low and timid voice. The mother, unobserved, smiled.
"Oh yes," he said, cheerfully. "But even if I go to America, expect
your mother and you to be arriving at Sandy Hook; and what then? In a
couple of years--it is not a long time--I should have a small steamer
there to meet you, and we could sail up the bay together."
Luncheon over, they went to the window, and greatly admired the view of
the gardens below and the wide river beyond; and they went round the
room examining the water-colors, and bits of embroidery, and knickknacks
brought from many lands, and they were much interested in one or two
portraits.
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