"Mother will be sure to tell you that. You're going to write to us once a fortnight, aren't you? Mind you say what Aunt Mary and Aunt Pamela are like, and how you get on with them."
"Oh yes, I'll be sure to tell you that. I'm afraid I shan't like them much, though. I have an idea Aunt Pamela will be very stiff and disagreeable."
"I daresay," Rupert replied, not very hopefully. "Doesn't it seem funny to think they brought father up? Mother says he went to live with them when he was quite small. I say, Marigold, you are very expensive."
"Expensive?" the little girl said wonderingly. "What do you mean, Rupert?"
"You are having all sorts of new clothes—a jacket, and a hat, and two new frocks, and—"
"Oh, now I understand! Yes! Mother said she would not like me to go to Exeter shabby and wanting new things immediately. Oh dear, only two days more at home!"
Mrs. Holcroft coming into the room at that moment heard the conclusion of the sentence, and echoed Marigold's sigh. She had made up her mind that she would not fret at having to give up the charge of her little daughter to those who were complete strangers to her; once having decided in which direction her duty lay; she, never faltered in the course she had taken. Nor would she allow Marigold to repine, for this gentle woman, with her naturally nervous disposition, had a wonderful fund of strength in reality, founded on a firm belief in God and His power to uphold her in all trials of whatsoever nature.
The night before Marigold's departure she and her mother had a long, long talk after the boys had retired to rest; and, much to the little girl's surprise and delight, her mother put into her hands the Bible that had been her dead father's constant companion.
"I wish you to have it, my dear," Mrs. Holcroft said tenderly. "You will see by the flyleaf that it was given to your father by his aunts when he was quite a boy. The writing underneath is his own: 'Fight the good fight of Faith.' That was his motto, and I want it to be yours. He told me that he wrote it down there the same day he obtained his commission in the army, that he might not forget whilst he was serving his Queen and country that he was fighting too for the cause of One greater than any earthly monarch against mightier, more deadly evils than are ever overcome by the sword. At one time I thought of keeping this book for Rupert, but you are the first of my fledglings to leave the nest, and I think your father would like you to have it now."
"Oh, mother, are you sure you do not want to keep it for yourself?" Marigold inquired.