"Let him go, by all means. If he does not want it, I shall, so soon as I find him indulging in airs. Plenty more men in the kingdom." "You always talk like that. I can't bear the worry of change." "A man who will not do his duty is a much worse worry, to my mind. Never mind; I'll see to replacing Horris if he goes. Meantime, if he is too grand or too lazy to wheel Miss Mackenzie's chair—no, sofa—a few paces, I am neither. Let me know when it wants doing." "Oh, Horris must do it, of course, if he is told. But as for somebody to sit in the room—Letitia never does a single thing she doesn't wish. And as for dragging myself up those stairs more than once in twenty-four hours, I really could not undertake the exertion!" "Pray don't think of it," her son answered politely. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XI NEVER SENT! "MOTHER, I've got a letter from Euphrasia!" Kenred burst into the house as he spoke, sending the words in advance of himself. "A letter from Euphrasia!" repeated Flo in his rear, and her pretty little face was flushed with delight. "At last!" A faint suspicion of hurt feeling might be detected in the tone. Nobody had expected that the absent member of the household would allow almost a whole fortnight to elapse with no further communication than a scribbled statement of her safe arrival. "And the queer part of it is, mother, that she doesn't say one word about why she hasn't written, or what she has been doing. Not one word! She only wants to know why 'we' haven't written, and says she is afraid somebody can't be well." "Your father is not well of course. He hasn't been for weeks and months past, and she knows it. Besides, I told her in my last letter that he did not seem particularly better." "But she says she has not heard at all." The boy flung himself down on the sofa, beside Mrs. Mackenzie and her mending-basket. "You'll see. There is the letter. Couldn't be much shorter. Eyebright is a funny girl, isn't she? One might think 'she' had been sending heaps of letters all the time." "But I wrote last. I have written twice, and she has never answered either of my letters." "I don't believe Euphrasia is enjoying herself one bit," murmured Flo, when Mrs. Mackenzie had perused the short note, and had pronounced it unsatisfactory. "She writes in such a dull sort of way, and she doesn't say a word about anything or anybody there." "As likely as not, she is disappointed with her friend. Euphrasia would never confess that she had been taken in. Girls never do! I don't think the note does sound very happy: but she will manage to get some enjoyment out of her visit. If not, why should she stay on, and not come home sooner? I cannot understand about the letters. Not had a single one from anybody, since three days after she left! Well, if she had not, she hasn't written either! But she forgets."