Then Alick had another project; he would take a house at the sea-side for a month, and Heather, and the girls, and Leonard should all go down and stay there, and he, and Arthur, and Cuthbert would spend their Sundays with them. “It will be like the old times, for us all to be together again,” finished the youth; “and, dear Heather, I do want to see you looking a little better;” whereupon she called him a foolish boy, and, drawing his face down to hers, kissed it, saying, “people could be well and happy anywhere, in London as in the country, if they would only try to be thankful and contented.” But the “foolish boy” resolutely refusing to be either contented or thankful, unless she would agree to his plan, at length, when it was far on in the summer, “between the crops” as he put it, Alick persuaded Heather to make her preparations for leaving home, which she did all the more readily, perhaps, because Arthur agreed to come down on the Saturday nights, and remain with them until the Monday mornings. “I think the change will do us all good,” he said; but there was a look in his face which Heather somehow mistrusted, and which caused her to wonder what could be the matter with Arthur; whether he had any fresh trouble he was keeping from her, or whether he felt ill and would not say so, for fear of spoiling her holiday. Talking the matter over with Bessie, however, that young person combated her friend’s fears successfully. “If Arthur should be ill,” she said, “I shall certainly hear of it from Morrison” (Morrison was one of the workmen somewhat devoted to Priscilla, in whom both Heather and Bessie trusted, and it is only fair to add, he deserved such trust, for the notes they mutually exchanged were never chattered about; the name of the young lady, whom Mrs. Dudley went to see, was never mentioned to any one); “and if I do hear of there being anything the matter,” went on Bessie, “I shall certainly go round to nurse him, and telegraph for you; so make yourself happy concerning that dear husband, and pack up your clothes at once.” Which advice Heather followed in a divided frame of mind; divided, because while she longed to see the country, she hated leaving Arthur, who, on the very Saturday of her departure, said he should not be able to accompany her out of town that week, because Mr. Lukin was coming to London, and might be expected in Silk Street at any moment. “But you must go, dear,” he added, “and I will run down through the week, if I possibly can. Come now, get your bonnet on, or we shall be too late at Waterloo;” and thus he hurried her on till they were fairly in a cab, _en route_ to the South Western Railway Terminus. There were Alick and Cuthbert, Lucy and Laura, all looking as bright and sunshiny as the weather. “Not coming, Arthur!” exclaimed his brother; “what a shabby trick! I could not have believed you would have served a fellow so!”