So this was the aunt whom Nan had thought about
and dreamed about by day and by night, whose acquaintance had always
been a waiting pleasure, and the mere fact of whose existence had
always given her niece something to look forward to. She had not known
until this moment what a reserved pleasure this meeting had been, and
now it was over with. Miss Prince was so much like other people,
though why she should not have been it would be difficult to suggest,
and Nan's taste had been so educated and instructed by her Oldfields'
advantages, not to speak of her later social experiences, that she
felt at once that her aunt's world was smaller than her own. There was
something very lovable about Miss Prince, in spite of the constraint
of her greeting, and for the first time Nan understood that her aunt
also had dreaded the meeting. Presently she came to the door, and this
time kissed Nan affectionately. "I don't know what to say to you, I am
sure," she told the girl, "only I am thankful to have you here. You
must understand that it is a great event to me;" at which Nan laughed
and spoke some cheerful words. Miss Prince seated herself by the other
front window, and looked at her young guest with ever-growing
satisfaction. This was no copy of that insolent, ill-bred young woman
who had so beguiled and ruined poor Jack; she was a little lady, who
did honor to the good name of the Princes and Lesters,--a niece whom
anybody might be proud to claim, and whom Miss Prince could cordially
entreat to make herself quite at home, for she had only been too long
in coming to her own.
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