But the shadowy barrier was down, and they had rejoiced that I was to marry the man who had been instrumental in bringing Luke home after all those years.

My grandmother said even that she was glad there had been no attachment of the sort between me and Theobald, since she had no liking for a marriage of first cousins.
By this time also we had Miss Travers' portrait, and she and Theobald were engaged.

She was a very sweet-looking girl, and so much prettier than I, having delicate little features and beautiful brown eyes and red lips, that I was not surprised Theobald had forgotten his old fancy for me.
She was coming home in the summer and was to stay at Aghadoe, and Theobald was to follow her in the autumn and they were to be married.

My grandmother was rather nervous about the prospect of receiving her alone.
"For, of course, you will be on your travels, Bawn," she said; "and although Luke and Mary will be at Castle Clody, it will not be the same thing as if they were here.

But I must love her, seeing that she will be Theobald's wife, and, please God, the mother of the heir--that is, after Luke and Theobald, of course." I was glad my godmother was not there to hear, lest it should hurt her, for she loved children and ought to have been the mother of a houseful of them.
Now that my expectation was to be fulfilled within a few days I became oddly frightened of it.