"Don't you go and drop out," he urged. "I shall be left without a friend."
The next day they met each other on the platform at Paddington. There was to be a Royal week in Windsor. A foreign monarch had come to England.
"Well, what do you think of the life to-day?" Humphrey asked.
"Oh, it's all right," Kenneth laughed. "I suppose I wanted a little fresh air and sunshine.... I shall get it in the forest."
IV
He was reading a letter in the bold, firm handwriting of Elizabeth Carr.
"Dear Mr Quain," she wrote, "I don't think I ever thanked you for the article you wrote of our day in the forest with the children. I asked Kenneth to tell you how glad I was, but I expect he forgot all about it. I think your article was most sympathetic, though I wish you hadn't made quite so much of that unfortunate child who was dressed so grotesquely. I will tell you what I mean when I see you, for I am writing to know if you can come to dinner here. I'm sorry Kenneth won't be able to come—he's away in Lancashire on that dreadful strike. Thank Heaven—he'll be leaving it all soon."
There was a postscript.