Evie's jaw dropped.
"Whatever made you think—?"
Christina snatched the letter and read, her eyes bright with excitement.
"Oh, golly!" she said and laughed so long that Evie grew alarmed.
"No, I'm not mad, and I'm not clairvoyant. Mother, what do you think of it?"
Mrs. Colebrook had followed her daughter upstairs.
"I don't know what to think," she said. She was one of those people who welcome an opportunity to show their indecision. Mrs. Colebrook liked to be "persuaded", though she might make up her mind irrevocably, it was necessary that argument round and about should be offered, before she yielded her tentative agreement.
Nobody knew this better than Christina. She drew a long sigh of relief, recognising the signs.
"We'll talk it over after Evie has gone to her pill-shop," she said, and for once Evie did not contest a description of her place of business, which usually provoked her to retort.
"I only want to say, mother, that you need not worry about me. I can get lodgings at one of the girl's hostels. I don't think I want to go abroad. In fact, I know that I don't. But it would be fine for Christina. It is my dream come true. I've always had that plan for her—a place where she could sit in the sunshine and watch the flowers grow."