"I'm so sorry Jackie and I weren't here," he said regretfully. "Did she come in, Aunt Martha?"
"That she did, and we had a nice chat together. She'd read about your father in the newspaper, and spoke so nicely about him. I felt proud to think he was my brother. It seems her father has a big house on his estate in Somersetshire, which he's turned into a soldiers' hospital, and she's helping nurse the patients. She's going back there in a few days. But she said she should call again; she's staying with friends at Clifton for a little change, because she's been working too hard nursing."
"Did you tell her about Mrs. Winter; that Mrs. Winter used to be her mother's nurse, I mean?" Bob asked eagerly.
Mrs. Mead shook her head.
"I quite forgot all about the old woman," she admitted, "But, if I'd remembered she wouldn't have been able to see her," she added, "for Mrs. Winter's been out with her dog all the afternoon."
When Mrs. Winter returned Bob went to her attic and told her of Lady Margaret Browning's visit. She would have liked to have had a peep at her, she said, to see if she was like "Miss Peggy"; then she drew Bob's attention to Stray and the collar he was wearing—not his old, shabby one, but another made of strong leather and ornamented with brass studs.
"What a handsome collar!" Bob exclaimed. "Why, it must have cost shillings!"
"I expect it did," Mrs. Winter agreed, "and it's all but new. It's a present. Oh, Bob, I've had such a fright this afternoon! Do you notice that Stray is wet? Well, he's been in the river!"
"Did he fall in?" asked Bob.
Mrs. Winter shook her head.