"Yes," said Mary. "She is with her aunt. I had a letter from her yesterday."
"I wonder whether she would come here if you were to ask her."
"Oh, that she would," said Mary.
"I doubt it very much," said the more prudent Sophia.
Mrs. Wilkinson heard the conversation, and pondered over it. At the moment she said nothing, pressing down her grief in her deep heart; but that evening, in the book-room, she found Arthur alone; and then she began.
"You were not in earnest just now about Adela, were you, Arthur?"
"Indeed I was, mother; quite in earnest."
"She has been very much away from Littlebath since her aunt came back from Italy to make a home for her. She was with us; and with the Harcourts, in London; and, since the break-up there, she was at Hadley. It would not be right to Miss Gauntlet to ask her away so soon."
"I don't think Miss Gauntlet would mind her coming here; and even if she does—"
"And then my time is so much taken up—what with the schools, and what with the parish visiting—"