The Letter Received

Arthur had been spending the evening at Prospect Hill. The Hethertons
had returned and would remain till after the fifteenth, and since they
had come the rector found it even pleasanter calling there than it had
been before, with only his bride-elect to entertain him. Sure of Dr.
Bellamy, Fanny had laid aside her sharpness, and was exceedingly witty
and brilliant, while, now that it was settled, the colonel was too
thoroughly a gentleman to be otherwise than gracious to his future
nephew; and Mrs. Hetherton was always polite and lady-like, so that
the rector looked forward with a good deal of interest to the evenings
he usually gave to Lucy, who, though satisfied to have him in her
sight, still preferred the olden time, when she had him all to herself
and was not disquieted with the fear that she did not know enough for
him, as she often was when she heard him talking with Fanny and her
uncle of things she did not understand.

This evening, however, the family were away and she received him
alone, trying so hard to come up to his capacity, talking so
intelligibly of books she had been reading and looking so lovely in
her winter crimson dress, besides being so sweetly affectionate and
confiding, that for once since his engagement Arthur was more than
content, and returned her modest caresses with a warmth he had not
felt before. He did love her, he said to himself, or, at least, he was
learning to love her very much; and when at last he took his leave,
and she went with him to the door, there was an unwonted tenderness in
his manner as he pushed her gently back, for the first snow of the
season was falling and the large flakes dropped upon her golden hair,
from which he brushed them carefully away.