Needlework, an accomplishment Lady Frederica had not asked for, was one that Sydney had learnt “at the doctor’s,” and Miss Osric had had plenty of experience in the cutting-out line in old days at her father’s Vicarage. So everything went smoothly: conversation was much easier than Sydney had expected it to be, and the women seemed to thoroughly enjoy their tea. All would have been quite delightful to the girl, even though the ill-ventilated kitchen was very close with so many people sitting in it, and the damp of the uneven stone floor made her feet, in their delicate Parisian boots, extremely cold, if it had not been for the haunting thought of how she should procure the money necessary for the carrying on of her scheme.
“Only the sixth of January,” she said dismally to Miss Osric, as the two hurried down the village to the second working-party. “Only the sixth of January to-day, and Quarter Day isn’t till the twenty-fifth of March. What shall I do?”
“I wish I could help you,” said Miss Osric, “but you know I must send all I can spare to them at home. It costs so much to send my brother Jack to Oxford, and there are Dorothy and Hilda who ought to go to school as soon as we can manage it.”
“Oh, I know!” cried Sydney. “I wouldn’t have you help in the money way for anything; just think what an amount of the other kind of help you are giving!” And they went into Mrs. Sawyer’s cottage and discussed the money question no more.
An observation of Lady Frederica’s next day gave Sydney the idea for which she was longing. Sir Algernon, who had been in town since Sydney’s return from the Deanery, came back that morning, and announced at luncheon that the Castle clocks were all behind London time. Sydney, eager to establish the perfections of her new watch, pulled it out triumphantly to inform the company that in that case her treasure was correct, for St. Quentin had declared it only that morning to be rather fast.
Its beauty caught Lady Frederica’s eye. “Dear me, child!” she said, “is that the watch St. Quentin gave you on your birthday. What a little beauty! But how extravagant of him, when he was speaking to me quite seriously only a day or two ago about retrenching!”
“Poor old chap, is he feeling pinched?” Sir Algernon said lightly. “There are moments, Lady Frederica, when I bless the luck that gave me a title unencumbered by a property to keep going. May I see the watch, Miss Lisle?” He spoke with a new inflection in his voice which did not escape Lady Frederica. “Yes, it is a beauty and no mistake. I expect they rooked old Quin something heavy for that.”
“It was very kind of St. Quentin,” Sydney said, and Sir Algernon murmured, “Lucky beggar!” in a tone the girl found hard to understand.
The conversation turned on other topics, but Sydney did not forget it, and, after much screwing up of her courage, went into the library a day or two later, having previously watched Sir Algernon off on a ride.