She had already taken leave of every member of the family except Emma Cavendish, who went out with her to the carriage, saw her comfortably seated in it, and kissed her good-bye.
It was a lovely spring morning. The woods and fields were clothed with the freshest green; the mountain tops beamed in the most beautiful opal tints, and the blue sky was without a cloud.
At Wendover they stopped to rest and water the horses, and then they resumed their journey and went on to Lytton Lodge, where they arrived just about noon.
John Lytton was evidently on the lookout for his niece, for as the pony-carriage drove up, amid the barking of all the dogs and the shouting of all the little negroes, he rushed out of the house, throwing up his arms; and he caught Laura and lifted her bodily from her seat, roaring his welcome.
And Laura, as she returned his honest, hearty greeting, felt a twinge of self-reproach in remembering with what reluctance she had come.
Uncle John took her into the house and set her down in the hall in the midst of all her relations, who had crowded there to welcome here.
"Lor-lor-lor', John! How dare you ma-ma-make so free as that with Laura, and she a young 'oman?" exclaimed old Mrs. Lytton, as, in her well-known faded calico gown and long-eared muslin cap, she came up and kissed her granddaughter.
"Why, because she _is_ a young 'oman, of course, and not an old man!" said John, saucily.
"Why, how much you have improved, child!" said Miss Molly Moss, smiling blandly.
"Oh, a'n't she though, neither?" exclaimed Octy and Ulky in a breath, as they seized her hands, the one clinging to her right and the other to her left.
"Come, now, I think you had better let Laura go upstairs and take off her bonnet and things. Dinner's all ready to go on the table. And I reckon her appetite is ready also. And, Jacky, you had better go out and tell John Brooks to put up and feed them horses," said practical Aunt Kitty, as she took and faced Laura about toward the spare bed-room that was on the first floor.
"Uncle wrote me that my brother was here. But I don't see him," said Laura as she laid off her bonnet.
"No; he and Charley went to Perch Point fishing yesterday, intending to stay all night and come back this morning. I reckon they'll soon be here," said Aunt Kitty.