For the Easter vacation William was even more insistent—but so was Billy: she had already accepted an invitation to go home with one of the girls, and she did not think it would be at all polite to change her plans now.
William fretted not a little. Even Cyril and Bertram said that it was “too bad”; that they themselves would like to see the girl—so they would!
It was in the spring, at the close of school, however, that the heaviest blow fell: Billy was not coming to Boston even then. She wrote that she and Aunt Hannah were going to “run across the water for a little trip through the British Isles”; and that their passage was already engaged.
“And so you see,” she explained, “I shall not have a minute to spare. There'll be only time to skip home for Aunt Hannah, and to pack the trunks before it'll be time to start.”
Bertram looked at Cyril significantly when this letter was read aloud; and afterward he muttered in Cyril's ear:
“You see! It's Hampden Falls she calls 'home' now—not the Strata.”
“Yes, I see,” frowned Cyril. “It does look suspicious.”
Two days before the date of Billy's expected sailing, William announced at the breakfast table that he was going away on business; might be gone until the end of the week.
“You don't say,” commented Bertram. “I'M going to-morrow, but I'm coming back in a couple of days.”
“Hm-m;” murmured William, abstractedly. “Oh, well, I may be back before the end of the week.”