[CHAPTER XLIX.]
UNCLE BRYAN AGAIN.
'Chris,' says my mother to me, on the following day, can you leave off work an hour earlier this evening?'
'Yes, mother,' I replied; 'at six o'clock if you like.'
'Then at six o'clock,' she says gaily, 'I shall take possession of you.'
As the hour strikes, she comes to my side, dressed for walking. 'No tea, mother?' I ask.
'We are going out to tea, my dear,' she answers.
I keep her waiting but a very few minutes, and presently we are in the streets. I know that something of importance is about to be disclosed to me, and that it will please my mother to be allowed to disclose it in her own way; therefore I hazard no conjectures, and we talk on indifferent subjects. But this does not prevent me from working myself into a state of agitation as to the precise nature of our errand. We take the omnibus to Holborn, and from there we walk towards Bedford-square. My mother leads the way down a clean narrow street, and we pause before a small three-storied house.
'Somebody lives here that we know,' says my mother, as she knocks at the door.
'Can it be Jessie?' I ask of myself, as I glance upwards. There are flowers on the window-sills of the first and third floor; those on the first floor are especially fine, and almost entirely cover the windows. It is on the third floor we stop when we enter the house.