"Aye. It does not take much of a memory to think back seven years!"
"Seven years! Why, Janet, thou art growing old!"
"Nay, sweet Mistress; but the two generations I now nurse are very young."
"'Tis true.—But what thinkest thou could detain the chest? Father Pomphrey cannot be kept waiting for a christening robe. And to think of Lady Ann being baptized in a common frock! 'Twould make Bettie St. Mar laugh; she already feels quite jealous because we are the first to have Father Pomphrey. And methinks, Janet, now that she is in expectancy—she will so vibrate 'twixt France and England,—fearing she will not be near Father Pomphrey for the christening—that little Julian and François will forget which is home."
"She need not do that; he could go to France."
"Nay, not so; for he leaves at once for Rome and will not return to
England ere summer, meaning not to stop at all in France."
"Ah! that makes me think of what I heard him say to Monsieur St. Mar in the nursery. 'Twas something about a christening. Monsieur said: 'Thou art expected at Crandlemar Castle?' and Father Pomphrey answered: 'Aye, sometime before next Michaelmas.'"
"Then Lady Bettie will remain in England mayhap."
"'Tis possible."
"What did he say of the children, Janet?"