"Who are coming on the jaunting car?" asked Bridget, in a voice of alarm.
"Well now, I knew you'd be excited; I knew you better than you knew yourself. Your face tells me how delighted you are. That dear little Janet May, that sweet little friend of yours, the girl you are as thick as peas with, is going to spend the holidays at Castle Mahun. I sent Larry off with the jaunting car after the early dinner to the station to meet her. She'll be here in a minute or two with a sister of hers whom she's nearly as fond of as she is of yourself. Now, isn't that a surprise for you, my pet?"
"It is," said Bridget, in a low voice.
It was against all the preconceived ideas of the O'Haras to show even by the faintest shadow of discontent that they were wanting in hospitality. Bridget felt that the high spirits which had been hers during the last two days, which had lifted the weight of care, and the dreadful sensation of having done wrong, from her young heart, had now taken to themselves wings, and that the awful depressed sensation which used to try her so much at Mulberry Court must be once again her portion.
"You're pleased, aren't you, Biddy?" said Aunt Kathleen.
"Of course," said Bridget, in an evasive tone, "but there's daddy just landing, let me run to him."
She flew away, skimming down the steep ascent with the agility of a bird. She was standing by her father's side, flushed and breathless, when he stepped out of the little boat.
"Eh, colleen," he exclaimed, "what do you say to coming for a sail with me?"
"Give me a hug, daddy."
"That I will, my girl; eh, my jewel, it's good to feel your soft cheek. Now, then, what are you rubbing yourself against me for, like an affectionate pussy cat?"