Then Milly tore herself away from them all. She looked at Katherine.
“I’m going up to my room. Katy, come up and help me—”
“I’d better come and help you, dear,” said Mrs. Trenchard. “There’s sure to be a mess....”
But Milly shook her head with a slight gesture of impatience. “No, no, Mother ... Katy and I will manage.”
“Hilda will do everything if—”
“No, I want to show Katy things....”
They went.
When the two girls were alone in the bedroom and the door was closed Milly flung her arms round Katherine and kissed her again and again. They stood there, in the silence, wrapped in one another’s arms.
“Katy—darling—if you only knew, all this time, how I’ve longed for you. Sometimes I thought ‘I must—I must—see her’—that’s you. I’d run away—I’d do anything. I don’t think anything matters now that I’ve got you again—and I’ve so much to tell you!”
They sat down on the bed, Millie vibrating with the excitement of her wonderful experiences, Katherine quiet, but with one hand pressing Millie’s and her eyes staring into distance.