There was a brief silence, which was broken by May, who told Mr. Basset about Mrs. Rumbelow's present to the Belgians.
"Poor old soul," he said pityingly, after he had listened to her tale; "I remember her son—a ne'er-do-well. I hope I shall not forget to send a hamper of fruit and vegetables to the Belgians to-morrow—I meant to do so yesterday, but I forgot."
"Shall we remind you, Uncle John?" asked Josephine eagerly.
"I wish you would, my dear," he replied; "I've a shockingly bad memory. Dear me, listen to the wind! It's going to be a wild night!"
"How wretched it will be for our soldiers in the trenches!" exclaimed May. "Poor fellows, I do pity them. Oh, by the way, Donald, I didn't tell you that the recruits are learning trench making on Kilber Down."
"How do you know?" inquired Donald.
"Mrs. Dicker told me," May replied. "I mean to go and see what they're doing," she continued; "I dare say Miss Cummings will take Josephine and me to Kilber Down one afternoon. I wish you could come too, Donald."
"What's the good of wishing it when you know I can't?" said Donald sharply. Then, meeting a surprised glance from Josephine's eyes, he added: "Perhaps I may get Aunt Ann to drive me there."
"Is your knee hurting you to-day, Donald?" inquired Josephine.
"Not at all, thank you," the boy answered. "What made you ask?"