"I hope you will let her remain with us until her education is completed, at any rate," Mrs. Reed said earnestly to Mrs. Wyndham; "for I do not know what Ann would do without her now. The two girls are wonderfully good friends. One of these days you must let Ruth come and stay with us, will you?"
"Oh, what a treat that would be, and how I should enjoy it!" cried Ruth, before her mother had time to reply, her sensitive face flushing brightly at the anticipation of such an unlooked for pleasure. Then she remembered how, a year before, Dr. Reed had spoken of her visiting Barford and nothing had come of it. That, however, had not been the kind doctor's fault.
"I am sure we should be delighted for Ruth to have such a nice change," Mrs. Wyndham said with a smile. "But you must not keep her too long," she went on somewhat plaintively, "for things will be sure to go wrong if she is not here to look after them. My husband relies upon her as much as I do. She is our right hand, Mrs. Reed."
"So I have heard," rejoined Mrs. Reed. "I think it is very nice to know that one is of importance, especially in one's own home," she added, with a kind look at Ruth who blushed more rosily than ever.
Thus it came about that when Dr. and Mrs. Reed returned to Barford, they brought Violet the news that, if all went well, during the Christmas holidays she was to have a visit from her elder sister. Violet's delight was boundless on hearing this, as also was Ann's, and various were the plans the two girls discussed, during the following weeks, as to the way in which Ruth was to be entertained.
More than two-thirds of the winter term had now slipped by without either Ann or Violet having exchanged half a dozen words with Agnes Hosking; they avoided her all they possibly could, nevertheless they were brought more or less in contact with her every day from the fact of her being in the same class at school as themselves. Agnes was not a favourite with the teachers, for she was an indolent girl; she saw no reason why she should work hard as most of the other pupils were doing, for, as she had given everyone at Helmsford College to understand, there never would be any need for her to earn her living. So she idled away the precious hours until those in authority lost patience with her, and, as is generally the way in big schools, the governesses gave their best attention to those more likely to benefit by their instructions.
"Really, Agnes Hosking shows quite a genius for idling," Clara Garret remarked to Violet Wyndham one afternoon subsequent to school hours.
The two girls were alone in one of the class rooms, Violet waiting for Ann Reed who was receiving a music lesson from a visiting master.
"Yes, hasn't she?" said Violet. "I wonder what sort of report she will have sent home at the end of the term; I should like to see it."
"You never speak to her, Violet, do you?"