"Ah, you may well ask. There's been a fairy here since you went away. She brought me those oranges, and some tea and sugar, and that strengthening jelly; and she gave Mrs. Kay money to get firing and milk. Oh, you needn't look like that, Bert; it's quite true."
"A fairy!" stammered Bert. "There ain't no such things."
"Oh, ain't there! That's all you know. This fairy came in her carriage; but she wasn't a bit proud. She spoke as kind as kind to me. She said she'd heard of me from Dr. Hurst, and how I should never be better till I got into the country, and she's going to send me into the country. I'm going to-morrow, Bert. Only think of that!"
There was no need to bid Bert think of it. The news was startling in its unexpectedness.
"To-morrow," he repeated; "do you mean that you are going away to-morrow, Prin?"
"Yes, to-morrow," she repeated delightedly. "There's a nurse coming to fetch me, and I'm to have new clothes, and to go away in a cab. Won't it be lovely?"
"Yes," he said slowly, "it's the best thing possible for you. The doctor said the country would make you well."
He tried to think that he was glad, very glad, that Prin was going; but his heart felt strangely heavy.
"Where are you going, Prin?"
"Oh, I don't know—somewhere in Hampshire, I think the lady said. Oh, do take that muffin from Mrs. Kay, Bert; she'll burn it, to a dead certainty."