Marcia opened her eyes.
“The two I saw—Jim and Penelope.”
“Penelope—yes, there is a good deal in that child.”
“I am her friend; I will tell you presently something, but not all, about her. I am truly glad I went to-day. Now, if only I can help you.”
“You can, you shall; I think God must have sent you.”
Marcia and her friend entered the house. They went into the library, where Marcia ordered a meal for Angela, and then went upstairs. Molly and Ethel were ready to dart upon her in the passage.
“What a long time you’ve been. Mother is beginning to cry. She says that Nesta has deserted her shamefully. We daren’t say that she is not in the house. I was thinking,” continued Molly, “of making up a little story, and saying that she was in her bedroom with a headache; mother couldn’t be very anxious about that, could she?”
“You mustn’t make up any such story. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Marcia, you are so over particular. Of course, you are not going to Hurst Castle to-night.”
“I am not.”