'What a dreadful day, and what miserable country!'
'I hope the house won't be damp,' Agatha said anxiously.
Then Gwen laughed.
'Oh, for pity's sake, don't all begin to croak! We do have wet days in London. If Jane and Martha have done their work properly, we shall soon forget the wet when we are inside.'
Slowly the fly lumbered along, and darkness had set in when they at last reached their new home.
Mrs. Tucker, who was keeping the maids company, came bustling to the door, and when they saw the cheerful little dining-room with its blazing fire and well-spread table for their evening meal, the wind and wet outside were forgotten.
Elfie ran in and out of the rooms, delighted with the quaintness of it all, and Clare grew quite enthusiastic over the carved wood decorations.
'He must be an artist,' she exclaimed. 'How could he go off and leave it all to strangers?'
The rooms, though lacking as yet in all the details of comfort, were quite habitable, and the late dinner was a merry meal.
'We shall be a community of women, with no opportunities of getting away from one another occasionally; that is what I object to,' said Clare, leaning back in her chair, and looking at her sisters rather meditatively. 'If we quarrel, it will be dreadful, and I am perfectly certain we shall never agree on every point.'