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CHAPTER XXVI.
COMING HOME.
The leaves were yellowing in the park and woods round Arden Court, and
the long avenue began to wear a somewhat dreary look, before Mr. Granger
brought his young wife home. It was October again, and the weather bleaker
and colder than one had a right to expect in October. Mr. Lovel was at Spa,
recruiting his health in the soft breezes that blow across the pine-clad
hills, and leading a pleasant elderly-bachelor existence at one of the best
hotels in the bright little inland watering-place. The shutters were closed
at Mill Cottage, and the pretty rustic dwelling was left in the care of the
honest housekeeper and her handmaiden, the rosy-faced parlour-maid, who
dusted master's books and hung linen draperies before master's bookcases
with a pious awe.
Miss Granger had spent some part of her father's honeymoon in paying visits
to those friends who were eager to have her, and who took this opportunity
of showing special attention to the fallen heiress. The sense of her lost
prestige was always upon her, however, and she was scarcely as grateful
as she might have been for the courtesy she received. People seemed never
weary of talking about her father's wife, whose sweetness, and beauty, and
other interesting qualities, Miss Granger found herself called upon to
discuss continually. She did not bow the knee to the popular idol, however,
but confessed with a charming candour that there was no great sympathy
between her stepmother and herself.
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