— — —It was a chilly month of damp winds, of low-flying loose clouds, of misty evenings and slowly opening flowers; even the white thorn blossoms came tardily that year and a deeper cloud of melancholy even than was usual seemed to settle over Leppard Hall.
After a few days of acquiescence in her fate, Laura, who had been most dutiful and quiet, asked her brother in the presence of the steward and Mrs. Sylk if she might go for a day to town. She declared meekly that her wardrobe needed much replenishing, and Mrs. Sylk, although she had not been warned before of the news, ably seconded her, saying that the girl needed indeed, say, a visit to her dressmaker and to order some more materials for her summer gowns, adding quickly that there was nothing to be had in either Rugby or Warwick that
