This last sight made Gladys laugh; but her mother looked on everything with a melancholy, indifferent gaze.
"How dreary this flat landscape is!" she said once. "Nothing to be seen but fields and windmills!"
Aldyth alighted at the railway station, and having consigned her hamper to the care of the station-master, walked up the town towards her aunt's cottage. But as she approached the Blands' house, Mrs. Bland smiled and beckoned to her from the bow-window, and it was impossible to pass without a word. The house door could always be opened from the outside. Aldyth opened it, and stepped in without ceremony.
"All alone?" she said, as she kissed her old friend; "how strange you must feel without one of the girls!"
"Yes, indeed," said Mrs. Bland. "Gwen thought I ought to keep her home for half a term, to bear me company, and deemed me a hard-hearted parent because I would not listen to her suggestion. But I do not approve of broken work."
"And what news of the others?" asked Aldyth.
"Oh, fairly good," said Mrs. Bland. "Kitty seems to be enjoying herself very much, and she says Hilda is a little brighter. They are at Dinan. When they wrote, they had been to see the ruined castle in which 'the Lady of La Garraye' lived. Kitty has been reading the poem, and seems much impressed by it. I was surprised at the way in which she wrote. It was as if Kitty and Hilda had changed places. Hilda says little in her letters, poor child. I fancy she would be sorry for me to think she was at all more cheerful. If I can find Kitty's letter, you shall read it."
Mrs. Bland rose to hunt for Kitty's letter amidst the papers on her writing-table. At that moment Aldyth, seated by the window, saw John Glynne walk down the street. The girl was thankful Mrs. Bland's back was turned as she felt the colour rush into her face. That sudden thrill was followed by a deep sense of disappointment and depression. He was gone in the opposite direction to that she was taking; there was no likelihood of her seeing him, and in a day or two at the latest, he would leave Woodham.
Mrs. Bland failed to find Kitty's letter, and Aldyth left without seeing it. In a few minutes, she was at her aunt's. Miss Lorraine welcomed her with a little air of excitement.
"What a pity you did not come a few minutes earlier," she said. "Mr. Glynne was here. He asked after you. I think he would have liked to say good-bye to you."