“I shall reach Kendal on Tuesday afternoon, and you, Robert, when?”
“I will come for you on Thursday. On Friday we will go to Manchester, stay all night there, as you wish to see your sister, and early on Saturday morning take the train for Liverpool. The Atlantic sails about four in the afternoon; do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand what I am to do. What are your own plans?”
“As soon as you have left on Tuesday morning, I will bring home the large packing cases already ordered. These I will fill with our personal belongings, which you must quietly place in your own wardrobe, and the drawers and presses in the spare room. The boxes are very large, and you need not deny yourself anything that is comfortable, or dear to you.”
“I know the boxes; I have seen them.”
“Impossible! They are not yet made.”
“I saw them last night. They were of rough, unpainted wood, and very large, and, as I looked, a man came in and soldered thin iron bands around them.”
“Upon my soul, Amelia, what do you mean!”
“What I say. They were standing in this room.”