She looked at him eagerly.
"You mean, then, that you—that his party want him to go back?" she asked.
"Assuredly!"
"You have told him this?"
"Of course! It was my mission!"
"Sir Leslie, you must tell me what he said."
Borrowdean sighed.
"My dear young lady," he said, "it is rather a painful subject with me just now. Yet since you insist, I will tell you. Something has come over your uncle which I do not understand. His party—no, it is his country that needs him. He prefers to stay here, and watch his roses blossom."
"It is wicked of him!" she declared, energetically.
"It is inexplicable," he agreed. "Yet I have used every argument which can well be urged."