“You don’t miss people a bit, do you, Mother?” he said.
“Yes, Pete, I do; only there is so much to be done. What does Mathilde say to you going off like this? How long will you be gone?”
“More than a year.”
“Pete, how awful for her!”
“There is nothing to prevent her going with me.”
“You couldn’t take that child to China.”
“You may be glad to know that she is cordially of your opinion.”
The feeling behind his tone at last attracted his mother’s full attention.
“But, my dear boy,” she said gently, “she has never been anywhere in her life without a maid. She probably doesn’t know how to do her hair or mend her clothes or anything practical.”
“Mother dear, you are not so awfully practical yourself,” he answered; “but you would have gone.”