"I must go, dad. I suppose I had better write a note for Uncle Ted to give her. Will you write, too?"
"Just a line, perhaps. I have been thinking, dear, that she may prefer a house in town. I am sure she will find this very dull."
"Yes," said Sidney bravely, "perhaps she will. In any case, they are not married yet, and 'there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.'"
She left the room, and did not take long to write her note:
"DEAR MRS. NORMAN,
"Uncle Ted has just told me the news. I hope you and he will be very happy together. He has been a most kind uncle to me ever since I can remember him, and I am glad for his sake if he has got someone besides us to love and care for him now. Will you come up to dine with us to-morrow night?
"Yours very sincerely,
"SIDNEY URQUHART."
She went to the workshop and gave this into her uncle's hand. He looked a little wistfully at her.
"I hope my news has not annoyed you—worried you?"
"Oh, Uncle Ted, why should it? I don't grudge you your happiness. If I was sure, quite sure, that it would be for your lasting happiness, I would be delighted."
"You have my word that it will. And if Ethel comes to-morrow, you will be nice to her, will you not? She has an idea you don't like her, and no one has ever disliked her before, she says."
"Is Gavine going to-morrow?"