"And when I am going to make you and your worthy young lover so happy, my love. Come, wipe your eyes and smile! I shall soon be very happy, and I want to make you and Alden as happy as I can before I go. Now sit down, both of you, and listen to me."
Alden and Emma sat down, one on each side of her.
She was a little tired with the words she had already spoken, and she put a small vial of ammonia to her nose and smelled it before she went on.
"Now," she said, as she put aside the vial and gave a hand to each of the young people, "I want you to attend to me and do exactly as I bid you."
"We will indeed," answered Alden and Emma, in a breath.
"I wish you would be married here in my presence tomorrow morning."
Alden Lytton gave her hand a grateful squeeze.
"You should be married to-day, if there were time to make the necessary arrangements."
"Are there any really necessary arrangements that can not be made to-day?" Alden inquired, eagerly.
"Yes, my son. A messenger must take a letter to Lytton Lodge to explain the circumstances, and to ask your sister Laura and your aunt and uncle Lytton to come immediately, to be present at your marriage with my granddaughter. If the messenger to Lytton Lodge should start at noon to-day, as he must, he will hardly reach the Lodge before night. Nor will your relatives be able to reach here before noon tomorrow. So you see the necessity of the short delay."
"Another messenger must take a similar letter to Beresford Manors, to summon my son and my youngest granddaughter, and your worthy guardian, Mr. Brent, who is on a long visit there. And it will also take about twenty-four hours to bring them here."
"I say nothing of the time it will take to get a license and to fetch Mr. Lyle, who must perform the ceremony, because that can be done in a few hours."
"If it were possible, I would like to have Mary Grey summoned by telegraph to attend the wedding," said Emma.
"Ah, yes, certainly she ought to be here; but there is scarcely a chance, the time is so short," said Mrs. Cavendish, as she again resorted to the vial of ammonia.
"Mrs. Grey is in very bad health. She would not come," explained Alden.
"Go, now, my dear children. I am very tired, and I must sleep a while," sighed the old lady.