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“You promised to let me tell the first person we met,” Valerie said, pulling the artist forward. She halted before Ruth. “We’ve just got engaged,” she smiled. “We’re going to be married before Christmas!”

So much happiness! Was it any wonder, Ruth thought, as she congratulated the happy Valerie and quietly triumphant Victor, that the old house glowed with it?

When the door of the study opened and John came out to invite them all into his father’s room, toasts were drunk to two engagements and a reunion. Then Alric Veycourt, leaning heavily on his stick, with his son supporting him on the other side, rose to his feet. He raised his glass.

“To Ruth’s father,” he proposed, “and his speedy recovery.”

THE END