"Tell Mrs. Ford I shall require my supper immediately, as I shall have to be up early in the morning, and therefore shall go to bed in good time to-night, Barnes," Miss Leighton said, in her usual cold tone.
"Yes, ma'am," Barnes replied. "I am glad, ma'am, that Mrs. Tiddy brought little Miss Peggy to say good-bye to you," she ventured to add.
"I have said good-bye to the child for the present," Miss Leighton responded deliberately; "but she too will soon be returning to town, and I have planned that we shall meet again."
[CHAPTER XI]
HOME AGAIN
"I SHOULD think they will be here very soon now!"
The speaker was Mrs. Pringle, who stood at the sitting-room window of her home, looking out into the narrow street, one cold, wet, spring evening. Her arm was around Billy's shoulders; and the little boy's face, which wore an expression of eager watchfulness, was pressed close to the window-pane.
"Yes," Billy answered, "I hope so. It always seems so long when one is waiting, doesn't it, mother? How it is raining!"
"I wish it had been a finer evening for Peggy's return," Mrs. Pringle remarked. "We must keep the fire up."
She moved back from the window and put mare coals into the grate.