"Ah, I am afraid not," said Miss Lorraine, shaking her head. "I have not told you that we are going to lose Mr. Glynne."
"To lose Mr. Glynne!" repeated Aldyth, colouring and turning a startled look upon her aunt.
"Yes, indeed," said Miss Lorraine, "it is a great pity, but I always felt he was too good for Woodham. He has got a good appointment abroad—the head mastership of some school or college at the Cape, I believe."
Aldyth hastily seated herself behind the urn. She felt that she had grown white and cold; the news was affecting her in a way she could hardly understand.
"How soon does he leave?" she ventured to ask, after a minute.
"Oh, his connection with the Grammar School is already severed," said her aunt. "Dr. Wheeler allowed a friend of Mr. Glynne's to take his place. Of course the boys do not like it, and their parents are all sorry to lose Mr. Glynne."
Aldyth silently busied herself with the coffee. Her hands trembled as she lifted the cups.
"Then I shall see him no more," was the thought that pressed painfully on her mind.
"He is coming down here again for a day or two before he leaves the country," said Miss Lorraine, after a pause, "just to get his things and say good-bye to his friends, you know. He could hardly leave us without a word."
"I suppose not," said Aldyth, with a coolness which might have been mistaken for indifference.