She'll stay.' And here the little speech stopped, for she was crying, with her arms about his neck; and the old man cried, too, and smiled over her, and patted her gracious head, with a little trembling laugh, and said, 'God bless you, my treasure.' 'Well, little Lily, will you have him ?' he said, after a little pause.
'No, my darling, no!' she answered, still crying.
'You _won't_ have him ?' 'No--no--never!' 'Well, little Lily, I won't answer his letter to-day; there's no hurry, you know.

And, if you are of the same mind to-morrow, you can just say you wish me to write.' 'Change, I can't; my answer will always be the same--always the same.' And she kissed him again, and went toward the door; but she turned back, drying her eyes, with a smile, and said-- 'No, your little Lily will stay with her darling old man, and be a pleasant old maid, like Aunt Becky: and I'll play and sing your favourite airs, and Sally and I will keep the house; and we'll be happier in the Elms, I'm determined, than ever we were--and won't you call me, darling, when you're going out ?' So little Lily ran away, and up stairs; and as she left the study and its beloved tenant, at every step the air seemed to darken round her, and her heart to sink.

And she turned the key in her door, and threw herself on the bed; and, with her face to the pillow, cried as if her heart would break.
So the summer had mellowed into autumn, and the fall of the leaf, and Devereux did not return; and, it was alleged in the club, on good authority, that he was appointed on the staff of the Commander of the Forces; and Puddock had a letter from him, dated in England, with little or no news in it; and Dr.Walsingham had a long epistle from Malaga, from honest Dan Loftus, full of Spanish matter for Irish history, and stating, with many regrets, that his honourable pupil had taken ill of a fever.

And this bit of news speedily took wind, and was discussed with a good deal of interest, and some fun, at the club; and the odds were freely given and taken upon the event.
The politics of Belmont were still pretty much in the old position.

The general had not yet returned, and Aunt Rebecca and Gertrude fought pitched battles, as heretofore, on the subject of Dangerfield.