It was the only word she could say for some moments. It seemed too wonderful and delightful to be true.
“Can I go?” was her next breathless speech.
“Would you like so very much to go?” asked her mother smiling.
It was an unnecessary question, for Iris’s whole face was alight with joyful anticipation. Her cheeks flushed, and she shook her long hair back impatiently as though eager to take flight at once.
“It will be a nice holiday for you,” continued Mrs Graham.
Suddenly it came into Iris’s mind that it was mother who wanted a holiday. How tired she looked, and how often her head ached!
“Mother,” she exclaimed impetuously, “I won’t go! It’s horrid of me to leave you with all the children. You ought to go instead.”
“But you see I am not asked. I don’t think that would quite do.”
“Well, at any rate,” said Iris, “I’d better not go,” and she sighed.
“That would be a pity, indeed,” said her mother; “and I should be sorry to refuse your godmother’s kind offer for many reasons. And though I sha’n’t see all the beautiful things at Paradise Court, I shall have pleasure, too, while you are there, because I shall know you are enjoying them.”