“My dear, I was getting anxious about you,” said Mrs. M’Alister, as they went into the sitting-room, Rhoda holding little Willie in her arms. “You are much later than you expected.” “Miss Merivale begged me to stay. Oh, Aunt Mary, she has been so kind! But I will tell you all about it presently. How tired you look, Aunt Mary! Jack and Willie, I hope you have been good?” “They have been very good,” said Mrs. M’Alister hastily. “I have been trying to get my work finished. Give me your hat and jacket, darling; Jack shall take them upstairs for you. You have had a long day. How beautiful those flowers are! They scent the room already. English flowers are sweeter than our flowers used to be. But we had a lovely garden, hadn’t we?” She was speaking very nervously, and she kissed Rhoda again as she took her hat and jacket from her. “I am so glad Miss Merivale was so kind, dear.” “Oh, she was wonderfully kind. And she has given me some more programmes to do. I am to take them to her on Thursday.” “That will be another nice change for you, dear. You look all the better for a breath of country air,” was Mrs. M’Alister’s nervously-spoken answer. “Uncle James says we are all to live in the country with him,” broke in Jack, who had been watching for an opportunity to make his voice heard. “And we shall have cream every day, and see the pigs fed.” “Uncle James?” said Rhoda, looking at Mrs. M’Alister. A little shadow had fallen on her face. Mrs. M’Alister’s elder brother had been the only person who had ever made her feel that she was an outsider and had no real claim to the place she held in the family. Mrs. M’Alister’s anxious face had clouded over too. “My dear, I did not want to speak of it till after tea. James is coming in again this evening, when Ned is home. Jack and Willie, run and ask Mrs. Ellis if the kettle is boiling yet. Rhoda will want some tea.” “I had tea before I came away,” Rhoda said, as the boys ran off. “When did Uncle James come, Aunt Mary?” “This afternoon, dear. He got to London last night. And he went down to the works this morning, and saw Ned and Mr. Howard. Oh, Rhoda, they want Ned to go to Plymouth!” Rhoda looked at her aunt. She understood now what those new lines of anxiety in her face meant which she had noticed the moment she came in. “To Plymouth, Aunt Mary? But that is a long way off.” “They have a branch there, and they want Ned to go. James says it is a splendid thing for him. And he wants me to go down there and live with him, Rhoda. His farm is only three miles from Plymouth.” She did not look at Rhoda as she spoke, but kept fingering the tablecloth nervously, with her eyes cast down. For a few seconds Rhoda was silent. Then her voice was very cheerful. “Why, you will be quite close to Ned, Aunt Mary. And the country air will be so good for the boys. I think it is a splendid plan.” Mrs. M’Alister gave her a piteous glance. “If only you could go too, Rhoda darling. But James says”--