"Well, I'm glad you are not going, anyway."
"I'm afraid you will not want me when Lawrence Puttenham is at the Vicarage," and though Joy smiled, there was a very wistful expression on her countenance, which her brother was quick to notice.
"That's all you know about it!" he cried, catching her by the shoulder and giving her a playful shake. "Don't pull such a long face, Joy. But, I say, tell me one thing, what's come between you and Celia? You used to be such great friends."
"Yes, but she's altered lately," Joy acknowledged with a deep, regretful sigh. "I can't explain what I mean, but she's different."
"I see she is. I wonder if mother notices it. I believe it's Uncle Jasper's fault. He makes too much of her."
Joy made no response to this. Lately her eyes had been opened to many little flaws in her sister's character, to which she had been blind before; and she endured the rankling knowledge that Celia had allowed her to be put in a false position. There was no longer the old confidence between the two, who in their home at A— had been such close friends, so that they contemplated the coming separation for a few weeks with feelings of actual relief. Celia looked forward to a visit which she anticipated would be pleasantly spent in congenial society, whilst Joy regarded the prospect of her sister's absence with perfect equanimity.
Sir Jasper asked Eric many questions in reference to the Crumleigh Cricket Club when they met at supper-time, all of which the boy answered fully. The old man nodded his approval of what he heard. He was both interested and amused by Eric's description of the boys, and remarked that the Vicar deserved praise for the good order in which he had managed to set the parish, adding that Crumleigh had been notorious in the past for the ill-behaviour of the youths of the place.
"I believe there is to be a real match on Saturday," said Eric; "you ought to watch it, Uncle Jasper."
"I!" cried Sir Jasper, regarding the boy with amazement. "I!" he repeated.
"Yes, you," Eric nodded; "and mother and the girls might like to see it, too. You subscribe to the club, Uncle Jasper, so don't you think you might drive over and see us play—by way of encouragement, you know?"