"Perhaps I shall like it. Have they a dog, ces dames, des chats?"
"Cats, very probably. But I do not know. I think you will find it interesting, Anne, for a few days. You will be able to play in the garden there. These old ladies"—he referred once more to the letter—"Mme. de Chaulnes and her sister-in-law, can tell you, I expect, all about your father when he was a little boy like you."
"Yes," assented the prospective visitor in tones of resignation rather than of anticipation. "But——" He looked mournful.
"Yes, my bairn?"
"The goldfish!"
Mr. Elphinstone laughed. "Oh, the goldfish! That is easily arranged. We will go out directly after breakfast and buy it, while Elspeth is packing."
"I could take it with me?"
"Well, I don't know. . . . Yes, I suppose you could."
Anne fell into meditation on the goldfish. He evidently saw it swimming before him, and the idea of parting so soon from this treasure, not yet even acquired, was clearly distressing.
"Then, if I could take it, Grandpapa, perhaps I would not mind very much, as Papa wishes it."