"We needn't talk of it now," said Marcia. "Something very dreadful might have happened. God in his goodness prevented it, and I greatly trust, Mr Carter, that Mrs Aldworth will get much better in health now than she has ever been before." "Well, that is excellent news," he said. He opened the gate for Marcia. "I am sorry you won't stay to tea," he said. "Thank you, very much, but I must hurry back to my invalid." "What a right good sort she is," thought the lad. "And what a splendid face she has got." Then he returned to the merry party on the lawn. He went straight up to Molly. "You must be happy now," he said. "You'll see her to-morrow. You have been telling me all this time how you have been pining for her." "Oh, yes, I know," said Molly. "I know." Her voice was subdued. "You are not vexed--not put out about anything, are you?" said the boy. "No; oh, no." "And with such a splendid sister." "Oh, for Heaven's sake don't begin to praise her," said Ethel, who came up at that moment. "When we think of all that she has made us endure-- and now the last thing she has done is this--she has stolen our mother's love. It's a whole month since we saw our dear mother, and she thinks of no one but Marcia; but when Marcia gives the word, forsooth, then we are brought back--not by your leave, or anything else, but just when Marcia wishes it." "That's nonsense," said Jim. "You are in a bit of a temper, I think. But, come; let's have some fun while we may." The news that they were all to go back was broken to the different members of the Carter family, who expressed their regret in different ways and different degrees. Not one of them, however, suggested, as both Molly and Ethel hoped, that it was absolutely and completely impossible for them to spare their beloved Aldworths. On the contrary, Clara said that sorry as they were to part, it was in some ways a little convenient, as their friends the Tollemaches were coming to spend a fortnight or three weeks with them, and the Mortimers were also to be guests at Court Prospect. "We shouldn't have room for you all with so many other people, so it is just as well that you are going, for it is never agreeable to have to ask one's friends to leave," said Clara in her blunt fashion. "But all the same, we'll miss you very much," said Mabel. "For my part," cried Annie, "I'm sorry enough to lose you two girls, but I'm rather glad as far as Penelope is concerned. She has run perfectly wild since that Nesta of yours is here. They're always squabbling and fighting over that wretched, commonplace girl, Flossie Griffiths. I asked father about her, and he said that her people were quite common and not worth cultivating." "Then you only care for people worth cultivating. I wonder you like us," said Ethel, with much sarcasm in her tone. "Oh, you're the daughters of a professional man," said Mabel. "And if we were not?" Mabel laughed.