"Well, then, I won't," said her father, greatly annoyed. "You are the last of the direct line and should have the property."
"I wouldn't know what to do with it."
"You could live here when I am gone."
Mara raised her faint eyebrows. "All alone?" she questioned. "You know I would not allow Theodore to stay, and that Patricia would go with Basil, who is always moving round the world. Oh, I couldn't."
"What's to be done, then?" asked the Squire helplessly.
Mara threw her arms round his neck, a rare demonstration of affection from so usually a self-controlled girl. "Wait," she whispered, "wait and see what is about to happen."
"What is about to happen?"
"I don't know. But something is coming along to change all our lives."
"How do you know?"
"I can't tell you. I only feel that there is something in the air to----"