She started: was it really he whom she had seen on the cattle
steamer? Then they had been near each other, had looked into each
other's eyes! Perhaps she would never seem him again--but, ah, yes! it
was quite probable she would, for was he not engaged to the wealthy
Miss Falconer, and would he not come back to marry her? The following
evening she received a short note from Mr. Wordley: it informed her
that the Villa was not for sale. It had been purchased by Mr. Falconer
for his daughter.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Within a few days she received invitations from the Bannerdales and
Vaynes and the other county families, who were evidently possessed by
the kind determination that she should become one of them. The dinner
at Bannerdale Grange was quite _en famille_; she was made a great deal
of; and if she had given them the least encouragement they would
actually have petted her; but though Ida had lost something of her old
pride and _hauteur_, caused by her isolation, she was still somewhat
reserved, and, grateful as she was for their overtures of affection,
she could not respond as fully as she would have liked.
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