BY EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN, Author of “Greyfriars,” “Half-a-dozen Sisters,” etc. CHAPTER XXV. MAY’S INVITATION. “I should like to go, Aunt Cossart, of course; but I will not accept unless you can really spare me. Now that Effie is away, I know it is dull for you, except in the evenings when Oscar is here.” Mrs. Cossart held in her hands the note of invitation, which a servant from Monckton Manor had just brought. “Do you know who these friends are that Miss Lawrence thinks you would like to meet?” “No,” answered Sheila simply. “They have a good many summer visitors at the Manor, and they are all nice people; but May does not say whether they are any I have seen before.” “Well, I think you had better go. It is only for three days; and I’ll ask Ray to come and spend the time with me. She had half promised me a visit before this. And Oscar need not go to the office regularly—that was quite understood. Only he is such a boy for his duty that there seems no keeping him back. However, your uncle will soon be home now; and then perhaps we shall settle something different. But write your note to Miss Lawrence, and say you will be there to-morrow. I will drive you across. I want to go and see Mrs. Frost, and so it will all be on the way.” “Oh, thank you so much, Aunt Cossart, you are very good. I shall like it very much if you are not left alone.” Sheila ran to write her note with a light heart. Effie was away on a visit to her friends the Murchisons. It had been a great advance that she should pay a visit by herself, with only Susan in attendance. It seemed quite a step in her recovery, and all had been pleased that she wished it and felt able for it. In her absence Sheila and Oscar had become quite like the children of the house, and the girl was often surprised at the warmth of her affection towards her aunt, despite the little fussiness and lack of tact and judgment which had so often irritated her in old days. Still, the thought of a few days with May was quite a treat. She had not been over to the Manor very often of late. May had been visiting some friends, and the girls had not met since. It was delightful of May to think of asking her for a night or two. That kind of visit was so much more satisfactory than just going over for the day. Truth to tell, Sheila thought little of the “friends” she was asked to meet. It was May she chiefly cared to see, although the house party at the Manor when it was full of guests, was always a very pleasant one. “May will be thinking about her wedding,” Sheila observed to her aunt as they drove along in the bright June sunshine. “Ray says that North does not see the use of waiting; and now that he has found that nice house over the bridge, and in the country, though not too far away, there doesn’t seem anything to wait for. I think he and May will be very happy together; and it will be nice to have her so much nearer.”