"Yes. We must go to bed and not talk any more to-night."
Accordingly they went to bed, and as soon as Violet laid her head on the pillow she discovered that she really was tired, so that it was not long before she was fast asleep. Ruth lay quietly by her side, listening to her regular breathing, and thinking over all she had heard that evening. It was nearly daybreak before she fell asleep.
[CHAPTER XXI]
AT TEYMOUTH
IT was a cloudless August day, oppressively hot in the sunshine but pleasant in the shade, and there was shade on the beach at Teymouth beneath the shelter of the high, red cliffs where a happy party, consisting of Mrs. Wyndham and her five children, was assembled.
The plan which Ann Reed had suggested, that the Wyndhams might take lodgings at Teymouth for their summer holiday, had actually been carried out, and now they were in residence at a farm house situated about half a mile from the village, and thoroughly enjoying the novel experience of life in the country.
This afternoon the young folks had made a huge fire of drift wood, over which they were trying to boil a kettle of water preparatory to making tea, whilst a table-cloth—kept in place by a big stone at each corner—had been spread on the sand and displayed a tempting repast of bread and butter, cake, and a big tin of clotted cream.
"I hope they'll come soon," said Violet, who was feeding the fire with sticks, "for the kettle is beginning to sing; but they are not in sight yet, and old Mrs. Reed does walk so slowly."
"She'll get along quicker with father to lend her an arm," observed Ruth; "as soon as the kettle boils I think we had better make the tea."
They were waiting for Ann and her grandmother, and for Mr. Wyndham who had gone to offer the old lady his assistance down the somewhat uneven path which led to the beach. The Wyndhams had been at Teymouth a fortnight, during which time they had seen Ann and her grandmother nearly every day. Mr. and Mrs. Wyndham seemed to have cast off all their cares and to be enjoying their holiday as much as their children; they felt they might do so with easy minds.