And great was the disgust of Sir Harry Hurdell, when eventually he heard of this sudden disposition to travel, the precise object of which he failed quite to understand.
Apart from anxiety about her brother, Eveline had another thought, and she kept repeating to herself,
'I shall see the land where Evan died—the land that holds his grave! It is a pilgrimage of love—but one that is without deceit to him.'
'Him,' meant Sir Paget, or 'Old Pudd,' as Sir Harry called him.
Allan might die ere they arrived, or after they did so. In either case, the famous will of Olive's father would be as only so much waste paper, so far as the Aberfeldie family was concerned; but at this time of trial no one thought of that feature in the terrible contingency.
Their whole idea was to see him; to be with him; to know the best or worst; to nurse him well, and to bring him home with them to the soft breezes of the Sidlaw Hills, and his native place, Dundargue.
So Tappleton and Mademoiselle Clairette received their orders; packing was proceeded with; the Continental Bradshaw consulted, and all arrangements made for a speedy departure for Egypt, viâ Paris; by rail then to Marseilles; thence by steamer, Messageries Imperiales Company, to Alexandria, when the train could be taken for Suez.
The night before their departure Olive was so excited that she could not go to bed, but sat listening to the booming of the waves as they rolled on the stormy bluffs of Southsea Castle, while all the past returned upon her, and when she had last seen the face of Allan.
As she was heard moving about in her room, Clairette was sent to inquire for her.
'I have a dreadful head-ache,' said Olive.