As she sat working on Kate’s dress, she was surprised to hear a heavy step approaching. There came a knock at the door; she answered, admitting Daniel.
He looked about the room, partly from curiosity, partly through embarrassment. Dusk was falling.
‘Young ‘uns in bed?’ he said, lowering his voice.
‘Yes, they are asleep,’ Emma replied.
‘You don’t mind me coming up?’
‘Oh no!’
He went to the window and looked at the houses opposite, then at the flushed sky.
‘Bank holiday to-morrow. I thought I’d like to ask you whether you and Mrs. Clay and the children ‘ud come with me to Epping Forest. If it’s a day like this, it’ll be a nice drive—do you good. You look as if you wanted a breath of fresh air, if you don’t mind me sayin’ it.’
‘It’s very kind of you, Mr. Dabbs,’ Emma replied. ‘I am very sorry I can’t come myself, but my sister and the children perhaps—’
She could not refuse for them likewise, yet she was troubled to accept so far.