"Oh, what fun it will be! I slept with Ruth for months and months, but when Violet came home I had to turn out for her. I do love having someone to talk to. Mine is a very little room, Ann, but you aren't very particular, are you?"
"No," replied Ann, smiling, "a very small space will do for me."
"I will write to your mother at once," said Mrs. Wyndham, "and we shall soon hear what she and your father think of our plan."
Dr. and Mrs. Reed thought the plan a most excellent one and immediately sent a reply to that effect. So it came to pass that when the Wyndhams left Teymouth they took Ann with them. Ann felt parting from her grandmother but the old lady, who had the visit of her son and daughter-in-law to look forward to and was in good spirits on that account, bade her a cheerful good-bye and spoke hopefully of their meeting next year.
Nevertheless, Ann could not help feeling a little depressed during the first part of the journey to London, for a year seemed a long time to look forward to, and she knew it was most unlikely that she would see her grandmother again before the expiration of that time. Long before Bristol was reached, however, which was about half the distance they had to travel, she was joining in the general conversation, apparently as merry and happy as her companions, who, rather to their own surprise, were eager now to get home.
"It was lovely at Teymouth, and it's very nice in a farm house in the summer," observed Madge, "but it must be very dull in the winter, I should think, when the weather is bad. I'm looking forward to see Barbara, and she'll be glad to see us, I know."
"I hope she will have everything comfortable for us," remarked Mrs. Wyndham, rather anxiously, "I wrote to her to get help to put the house in order, but poor Barbara has no head for management, and, with the best intentions in the world, she is a sad muddler."
Mr. Wyndham smiled on hearing this, and a humorous twinkle crept into his eyes.
"Well, don't begin to worry, my dear," he said kindly, "we all know what Barbara is, except Ann, and she will make allowances for her, I've no doubt."
The travellers, being eight in number, had a compartment to themselves, and the journey was made most comfortably. When Paddington was reached they all declared they were not in the least tired; but, by the time they arrived at Streatham they told a different tale.