The next few days were busy ones, for Mrs. Lloyd superintended the turning out of each room in turn that the house might be quite clean for the new maid, as it had been for Fanny when she came; and it was not until the last week of her stay with Mrs. Lloyd that Fanny received permission to go home for the afternoon to have tea with her mother, and tell her of the change she was about to make.
Fanny decided that she would find out as she went home who was coming to take her place, and so, instead of hurrying away directly after dinner, she did not go out until nearly three, for she intended to go round by the school and arrive there just as the girls were leaving at four o'clock. She should hear then all about the girl who was coming to take her place, and also what her mother had said when she heard she was going to leave.
But when the school was reached, and she met her sisters coming out of the playground, and they ran eagerly forward to meet her, they did not say what she expected to hear, "Why are you going to leave your place, Fanny?"
"How is mother?" she asked, after various questions and exclamations had passed.
"She is very well, but she has gone out to tea, as you didn't come home at the proper time. Mother said this was the day for your holiday; and she made a cake, too," put in Selina.
"Yes, she thought you would have written to tell us if you could not come as usual," explained Minnie.
"Oh, Fan, father was cross the other Sunday when he came to meet you and you did not come," said Selina.
"I was cross, too," said Fanny; "but, after all, it did not matter, for I got—"
And there she stopped, for she did not mean to say a word about the new place just now, especially to Selina; and at the same moment a group of old schoolfellows gathered round her, and one among them exclaimed—
"Now, Fanny, you are coming home with me to tea. You said you would the last time you had a holiday, and now you must."