[Original]
When the first transports of the whole party had subsided, and Kit and his mother, and Barbara and her mother, with little Jacob and the baby to boot, had had their suppers together—which there was no hurrying over, for they were going to stop there all night—Mr Garland called Kit to him, and taking him into a room where they could be alone, told him that he had something yet to say, which would surprise him greatly. Kit looked so anxious and turned so pale on hearing this, that the old gentleman hastened to add, he would be agreeably surprised; and asked him if he would be ready next morning for a journey.
‘For a journey, sir!’ cried Kit.
‘In company with me and my friend in the next room. Can you guess its purpose?’
Kit turned paler yet, and shook his head.
‘Oh yes. I think you do already,’ said his master. ‘Try.’
Kit murmured something rather rambling and unintelligible, but he plainly pronounced the words ‘Miss Nell,’ three or four times—shaking his head while he did so, as if he would add that there was no hope of that.
But Mr Garland, instead of saying ‘Try again,’ as Kit had made sure he would, told him very seriously, that he had guessed right.
‘The place of their retreat is indeed discovered,’ he said, ‘at last. And that is our journey’s end.’