“Dear godmother,” she said effusively, “how I wish you would use your influence with the Mum!” Then, leaning her elbows on her knees, locking her hands, and assuming a confidential attitude, she added, “To me, it always seems so strange that we have no English belongings, no letters except yours, and we have lived at Les Plans for thirteen years! It almost looks”—she spoke with bated breath, staring into her listener’s face with eyes as hard as two blue glass marbles—“as if—of course, only to you would I breathe it——”
“Well, breathe it!” urged Mrs. Hesketh impatiently.
“As if,” and Cara’s voice fell to an awed whisper, “Mummy had—done something!”
Her godmother examined the girl from under her beautifully marked brows, with a cold and critical scrutiny. Was it for this disloyal wretch, that poor Letty had sacrificed youth, and love, and country? Her face was rigid as she answered:
“Your mother has her own excellent reasons for living abroad. This life of labour and self-denial has been for your sake; for you, she has made great sacrifices. I hope you are grateful, Cara?”
“Oh, yes,” with a shrug; “cela va sans dire; but I’m her only child, and it’s her business to look after me. Of course, she can’t help being poor, or afford to give me a good time, but I’m sure we could struggle along somehow in London. I’ve heard that it’s the cheapest place in the world, and I am so deadly sick of that odious Les Plans, with its horrible smell of cows and cheese; when there is a hitch about supplies, we have sausages, and smoked meat, and nasty Swiss messes. And, oh, I’m so tired of looking out on the opposite shore of the lake, with its black woods, grey mountains, and skim-milk sky. Give me a good street!”
“But, after all, Cara, you are not much at home; latterly you have lived chiefly in Lucerne, and I know you have visited Berne, Zurich, Interlaken, and Lugano.”
“Yes—Switzerland—toujours Suisse! I am crazy to get out of this corner, and to see the world.”
“You cannot expect to see much of the world on two hundred a year, can you? and you should think of your mother.”
“Of course, but the Mum—well, she is no longer young, and she has had her day—now I want to have mine!”