“I have come here all the way from Yorkshire in order not to lose a moment,” continued the good baronet. “I don’t want to see Fanny at present. This has nothing whatever to do with Fanny. I have come to tell you that a wonderful piece of news has reached me.”
“What can that be?” asked Mrs. Haddo. She spoke with that gracious calm which always seemed to pervade her presence and her words.
“Do relieve my mind at once!” said Sir John. “Is it possible that you—you, Mrs. Haddo, of Haddo Court—have at the present moment three vacancies in your school?”
Mrs. Haddo laughed. “Is that all?” she said. “But they can be filled up to-morrow ten times over, if necessary.”
“But you have three vacancies—three vacancies in the upper school? It is true—I see it is true by your face. Please assure me on that point without delay!”
“It happens to be true,” said Mrs. Haddo, “although I do not want the matter mentioned. My three dear young pupils, the Maitlands, have been unable to return to school owing to the fact that their father has been made Governor of one of the West India Islands. He has insisted on taking his family out with him; so I have lost dear Emily, Jane, and Agnes. I grieve very much at their absence. They all came to see me last week to say good-bye; and we had quite a trying time, the children are so affectionate. I should have greatly loved to keep them longer; but their father was determined to have them with him, so there was nothing to be done but submit.”
“Oh, Mrs. Haddo, what is one person’s loss is another person’s gain!”
“I don’t understand you, Sir John,” was the good lady’s reply.
“If you have three vacancies, you can take three more girls. You can take them into the school at once, can you not?”
“I can, certainly; but, as a matter of fact, I am in no hurry. I shall probably be obliged to fill up the vacancies next term from the list of girls already on my books. I shall, as my invariable custom is, promote some girls from the lower school to the upper, and take three new little girls into the lower school. But there is really no hurry.”