"Which I certainly shall do. Well, Mr. Churchill, why not write to
these ladies and ask if they know their address? They probably do."
"I never thought of that, sir; but I'll write to them this very day.
Thank you very much for thinking of it, squire."
And Mr. Churchill accordingly did write to Miss Webster, and after
apologizing for troubling her, told her that he was getting anxious
at not hearing from his daughter, and asked her to be good enough to
give him Mrs. John Temple's address, if she knew it. And he added, "Mr.
Temple, the squire of Woodlea, was here this morning, and will be glad
also to hear from his nephew."
An answer to this letter was most anxiously expected at Woodside, and
after two days one came, which was as follows:
"DEAR SIR: I am sorry I can not give you the information you require
regarding the address of Mr. and Mrs. John Temple, as we have heard
nothing from them since the day Mr. John Temple arrived here and took
your daughter away for a proposed short visit to the seaside. But the
same day that you called and told us Mr. Temple of Woodlea Hall would
be glad to receive the young people, I felt it was my pleasing duty to
write a few lines to Mr. John Temple to tell him of your visit, and
also of his uncle's sanction to his marriage. I sent this letter to the
Grosvenor Hotel, where he sometimes stays while in town, but I have
received no reply. And therefore we--my sister and myself--can only
conclude that Mr. and Mrs. John Temple must have gone abroad, and have
not received my letter.
"Trusting, however, that you will soon hear from them, I remain,
"Yours sincerely,
"MARGARET WEBSTER."
"Yes, that's it; no doubt they are abroad," said Mr. Churchill, after
he had read Miss Webster's letter, handing it to his wife.
"Of course, they may be," replied his wife.
But Mr. Churchill was quite sure that they were, and took over Miss
Webster's letter to show it to the squire. But the squire still thought
it very strange, and so did Mrs. Temple when her husband told her of it.
"There is something to hide. John Temple is keeping something back,"
she said. And she thought again and again, "What can it be?"
CHAPTER XXXV.
KATHLEEN WEIR'S GHOST.
And during this time, also, Miss Kathleen Weir had felt very much
disappointed that she had neither seen nor heard anything of Mr. Ralph
Webster. That is, she only received two brief notes from him, both
declining her invitations to "a merry supper after the play to meet
Linda Falconer, as you admired her so much--and her swain, Dereham."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account