"Oh, I am so glad you are come!" she said, eagerly. "Twice I have sent Tulp for you across to your mother's. It seemed as if you never would come."
"Why, what is it, my girl? Is it about the letter from--from----"
"You know, then!"
"Only that a letter came to you yesterday from him. The messenger--he is an old friend of ours--told me that much, nothing more."
Daisy turned at this and took a chair, motioning me to another. The pleased excitement at my arrival--apparently so much desired--was succeeded all at once by visible embarrassment.
"Now that you are here, I scarcely know why I wanted you, or--or how to tell you what it is," she said, speaking slowly. "I was full of the idea that nothing could be done without your advice and help--and yet, now you have come, it seems that there is nothing left for you to say or do." She paused for a moment, then added: "You know we are going back to Cairncross."
I stared at her, aghast. The best thing I could say was, "Nonsense!"
She smiled wearily. "So I might have known you would say. But it is the truth, none the less."
"You must be crazy!"
"No, Douw, only very, very wretched!"