Page:A Wild-Goose Chase - Balmer - 1915.djvu/53

Rh Eric would be gone two years; long before that time she would come to her senses; Price Latham or some one like Price would bring her into her right mind.

Mrs. Chandler, upon whom had devolved the responsibility of Margaret's future, after the death of her parents, simply refused to discuss any possibility of Margaret's marrying Hedon, should he ever return. Geoff, too, was openly against her; and Price always seemed confident that he needed only a little more patience with her to make her completely forget her foolish infatuation.

Yet during four years, Margaret had refused to forget. She made no display of loyalty to Eric; only in her room she preserved the keepsakes and trifles connected with Eric which, now after Geoff was gone, she took up tenderly and put away. The blood red, tropical tulip which he had given her was blooming in its pot on her windowsill; it had a deep, sweet odour. She had found it flowering the morning after he went away and it had blossomed during every spring since. She stooped and smelled the flower with her eyes closed.