At last curiosity overcame Gertrude. All the family were busy with their breakfast and their own concerns. Conway and her father were each buried in a daily paper, Willie and Tony had lesson books propped in front of them, little Maud was engrossed in bread and milk, and Mrs. Brougham and Denys at either end of the table were pouring out tea, and cutting bread, and dispensing porridge and bacon, and generally devoting themselves to the wants of the family. Nobody was heeding Gertrude, and she opened her letter and glanced first at the signature. Cecil Greyburne! She was distinctly conscious of a feeling of disappointment, but in a moment she pushed that aside. It was pleasant to find Cecil had not forgotten her, though the note was but a short one, nothing to compare in length with the one that had accompanied the Easter card which he had ridden fast and far to post. "MY DEAR GERTRUDE," the note ran, "You know I am always trotting about the country for my work, and on Monday afternoon I find I pass through Old Keston station, waiting three minutes by the official time-table (probably that will mean five). I meant to call in and give you all a surprise visit, but find there is no suitable train to carry me on later. If some of you are near the station at 5.15 and can waste a few minutes on a chat, it would cheer a hot and tiring journey and make it seem worth while. I shall be in the front of the train; at least half of me will be, the other half will be outside the window watching for you. "Yours truly, "CECIL GREYBURNE." Monday afternoon at 5.15! Gertrude's memory rapidly ran through her list of Monday classes and pupils. One of the pupils was ill and, a most unusual thing, she would be free at four o'clock! She need not go to the station in her school dress, but have time to come home and put on something pretty. It was very jolly of Cecil to have thought of writing. Of course she would go if she possibly could. She frowned as she wondered whether she must mention Cecil's request to her mother and Denys. He had said "some of you," but he had written specially to her. She remembered that Denys always went to help with a Blanket Club on Monday afternoons and was seldom home before six o'clock, and she did not see exactly what interest it would be to Denys to see Cecil. At any rate she would leave that decision till she came home at dinner-time. At dinner-time she had a bright idea. She would take little Maud. The care of Maud on Monday afternoons devolved on Mrs. Brougham, and Gertrude knew that a proposal to take the child out would be very welcome, and it would fulfil Cecil's "some of you." Cecil would like to see the family pet. So Denys went on unsuspectingly to the Blanket Club, and at four o'clock Gertrude turned up at home, announced that for a wonder she had an hour off, that she was going up to the station and that she would take Maud with her, if Mrs. Brougham liked.