“I know I did. But you see——”
Missy laughed.
“You should have written, my dear,” David said gently, as she got no further, and he had no wish to cross-question her. “I didn't know what had got you.”
“None of us could think,” added Arabella.
“Except me, Miriam,” said John William, proudly. “You were getting your new rig-out; wasn't that it?”
The girl nodded and beamed at him as she said that it was. The sunshade was lying on the sofa now, and Missy sitting at the table in Arabella's place.
“I thought,” said Mr. Teesdale, “that you had gone off to Sydney, and weren't coming near us any more. Do you know why? There was a Miss Oliver in the list of the overland passengers in Thurday's Argus.”
“Indeed,” said the girl.
“Yes, and it was a Miss M. Oliver, and all.”
“Well, I never! That's what you'd call a coincident, if you like.”