"But it's holiday time now, isn't it?" questioned Lady Margaret.
"Oh, yes!" Bob assented, "only—" He broke off and was silent.
He had been about to say that he worked hard in the school holidays, carrying heavy loads of vegetables, but a frowning glance from his aunt had stopped him.
Lady Margaret now rang the bell and ordered tea for her visitors. Bob was too shy to take much, but his aunt drank several cups of tea, and made a good meal on the dainties offered her. There was a cake which was not cut, and that Lady Margaret made into a parcel and gave to Bob to take home to his little brother. He was so pleased that he could scarcely find words with which to thank her, and when Lady. Margaret put five one-pound notes into his hand, the reward for the return of the brooch, he was absolutely speechless.
"Good-bye, Bob," she said, kindly; "I'm going to London to-morrow; but I hope to come here again before long, and if I do I shall try to see you. I should like to hear more about your father. I'm sure he must be a very good father, or you wouldn't love him so much, and be so proud of him. May God bless him and keep him!"
"Good-bye, my lady," the boy replied, looking at her gratefully. "Oh, I do hope I shall see you again! And Jackie would like to see you too!"
"And I should like to see Jackie!" she said, smiling. "Will you please give me your address?" she asked Mrs. Mead.
Mrs. Mead did so. But on the way home she told Bob she thought it most unlikely he would see anything more of Lady Margaret, who would most probably go away and never think of him again.
"Oh, I hope not!" the boy exclaimed. "I liked her so much! And didn't she speak nicely about father? I thought it so kind of her to say, 'May God bless him and keep him!' And the way she spoke, so softly and solemnly! Oh, Aunt Martha, it sounded like a prayer!"