Paddy made no reply.
“Because, as it happened, you see, it was such a good thing. I could never have been as happy with any one else as I am with Jack. Tell me, Paddy?” looking hard into her sister’s eyes.
Paddy shook her head.
“I can’t tell you anything, Eily,” she answered. “Please don’t ask me.” And Eileen had to give in.
Jack tried when he came for a flying visit about wall-papers and paint and things, and it was then for the first time that they learnt of Paddy’s unlooked-for decision.
“What colour is your room to be, Paddy?” he asked. “I am waiting your orders.”
“You are very good,” a little uncomfortably, “but I’m not coming to live at The Ghan House.”
“Not coming to live at The Ghan House!” as if he could not believe his own ears, while Eileen and her mother looked up in amazement.
Paddy had to brace herself with the utmost determination.
“I have thought it all over carefully,” she said, “and I have decided to stay in London. I have developed a very independent spirit of late, somehow,” with a little smile, “and I mean to stick to my post.”