‘Yours affectionately,
‘J. GARDNER.
‘P.S.—Mrs. Martindale looked very well. I hope she will have no recurrence of faintings.’
‘From Jane Gardner,’ said Theodora; ‘only to put me in mind of the picnic. Will you go, Arthur?’
‘I never was more glad to be on her Majesty’s service. What an abominable bore it would be!’
‘That is what gentlemen always say of picnics,’ said Theodora.
‘Not at all,’ said Percy. ‘A real country party of merry happy people, knowing each other well, and full of genuine honest glee, is one of the most enjoyable things that can be.’
‘That it is!’ cried Violet. ‘There was the day we went up Skiddaw, with no one but our cousins and Mr. Fanshawe, and dined on the mountain in sight of the valley of St. John; and the rain came on, and Mr. Fanshawe sat all the time holding an umbrella over Annette and the pigeon-pie.’
‘That was worth doing,’ said Percy; ‘but for a parcel of fine ladies and gentlemen to carry the airs and graces, follies and competitions, born in ball-rooms and nursed in soirees, out into pure country air and daylight, is an insult to the green fields and woods.’
‘That is a speech in character of author,’ said Theodora.