"And they did not leave any more messages?"
"None whatever. Now, Hugh, as Agnes has pumped me dry, let Alice take a turn at you!"
Alice, till her brothers came in, had been leaning over the fire, deeply buried in a book and now turned round to it again, as if she would very much rather read than do anything else.
Hugh seeing this, advanced a step nearer, and his eyes looked mischievous.
"Well, Alice, don't perfectly smother a body with questions. One at a time. What's the first?"
"I don't know; I haven't any to ask."
"You mean you're too busy?"
"No," answered Alice, half vexed.
"Perhaps you're cold, you're such a long way off from that tiny fire!"
"I'm not cold," said Alice, putting her hand up to her glowing face.