"She would have gone without your consent."
Lady Agatha came over and put a hand on her shoulder, a kind, caressing hand.
"You are quite right," she said. "Oh, he has wriggled, but it had to be. It had to be, from the first minute we met."
"I knew it."
"You did, you wise woman. And you will keep house for me when I am gone? You will take care of the dogs for me? You will oscillate between Hazels and town? You will keep the places ready against our return? You are never to leave us."
Mrs. Morres's eyes overflowed.
"My dear," she said, "it would have broken my heart to have left you. And Mary—what is to become of Mary?"
"I have a plan for Mary, unless she will stay here with you."
"I must earn my bread," said Mary.
"For all the bread you eat, I eat four times as much as you. Still, you have talents to be used for the many, as Sir Michael Auberon said. I have no right to keep you from them. You will talk to Robin Drummond about that. He is starting a bureau for purposes of organisation amongst the women. He has had his eye on you. I told him he could not have you. Now, it will fill a gap, perhaps. I shall need you again."