Here was an excellent natural opening, but Salvina was taken too much aback to avail herself of it, especially as the artificial opening preoccupied her mind. "Oh, your ring's all right," she said hastily; "I came to tell you we are going to move."
Kitty clapped her hands. "Ah! so you've taken my advice at last! I'm so glad. It wasn't nice for me to stay with you at that dingy hole, even for a day or two a year. Mustn't mother be pleased!"
Salvina bit her lip. Her task was now heavier than ever.
"No, mother isn't pleased. She is crying about it."
"Crying? Disgusting. How she still hankers after Spitalfields and the Lane!"
"She isn't crying for that, but because father won't go with us."
"Oh, I have no patience with father. He hasn't a soul above red herrings and potatoes."
"Oh, yes he has. He has left us."
"What! Left you?" Kitty's pretty eyes opened wide. "Because he won't move to a better house!"
"No, we are moving to a worse house because he has moved to a better."