‘Yes,’ said the Uncle; ‘let us sit down on the steps and talk over the idea.’
They sat down and the Uncle explained.
‘Your finding those books,’ he said, ‘has so completely revolutionised my ideas of magic that I cannot complete my book. I must throw it into the melting-pot, rewrite it entirely. And to do that I need more knowledge than I have. And I intend to travel, to examine the magic of other lands. The first country I shall visit is India, and it occurred to me that you might like to go with me and visit your parents. I have been corresponding with them by cable,’ he added, waving the pale-coloured papers, ‘and your parents are delighted with the idea of the family reunion (pink verbena). We start, if the idea smiles to you, next week.’
‘Oh, uncle!’ was all that any one could find to say, till Charlotte added, ‘But what about Rupert?’
‘Rupert is to go too,’ said the Uncle, ‘as far as Suez, where his father will meet him.’
‘Is father coming home, then?’ Rupert asked breathlessly.
‘For a year’s leave,’ said the Uncle. ‘But you haven’t any of you answered the stephanotis question yet. Will you accompany me to the East?’
Caroline ran to a flower-bed and came back with some leaves and flowers which she thrust into the Uncle’s hand.
‘Small white bell-flower, wood sorrel, aquilegia,’ she said; ‘they mean perfect joy; we love you beyond measure; and Yes. Yes! Yes!