Page 235 - The snake's pass

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BOG-FISHING AND SCHOOLING. 223
" Now, Art, you had better run back to the cottage. Miss
Joyce will be wondering what has become of you all this
time, and may be frightened." It was so strange to
hear her—Norah, my Norah—called " Miss Joyce," that
I could not help smiling—and blushing whilst I smiled.
Dick noticed and guessed the cause. He laid his hand
on my shoulder, and said:
"You will hear it often, old lad. I am the only one
of all your friends privileged to hear of her by the name
you knew her by at first. She goes now into your class
and amongst your own circle ; and, by George ! she will
grace it too—it or any circle—and they will naturally
give to her folk the same measure of courtesy that they
mete to each other. She is Miss Joyce—until she shall
be Mrs. Arthur Severn!"
What a delicious thrill the very thought sent through
me
I went up to the cottage, and on entering found Norah
still alone. She knew that I was under promise not to
tell anything of Murdock's proceedings, but noticing that
I was not so tidy as before—for my cleansing at the
brook- side was a very imperfect one—went quietly and
got a basin with hot water, soap, and a towel, and clothes
brush, and said I must come and be made very tidy.
That toilet was to me a sweet experience, and is a
sweet remembrance now. It was so wifely in its purpose
and its method, that I went through it in a languorous
manner—like one in a delicious dream. When, with a
blush, she brought me her own brush and comb and began