"I don't think it is fair to Cecil," she said suddenly.
"If we all agree, what matter does it make to Cecil?"
"But it does; it makes a great deal," continued Kate. "I know perfectly well, Molly, why you are proposing it, and I think it is very, very good of you. You don't want me to feel out of it; but I shan't, dear Molly; I shall try and have patience. I know it is impossible for me to compete in any way with you and Cecil now."
"I see," interrupted Cecil suddenly. "I did not know what Molly meant at the time. Yes, it is a good thought; we'll all rest our brains. Kate shall not even read, but we'll read aloud to her, and so badly that she's certain to drop off to sleep in a quarter of an hour; and you know, Kate, the doctor said that sleep was better for you than any medicine."
"I know," said Kate, with a sigh.
Her high spirits had vanished; she looked paler than usual.
"I wish I did not feel so weary," she said. "I wish this horrible depression, and good-for-nothingness would leave me."
"It will when you are at the seaside," said Molly.
"And I defy you to be very depressed in the company of Maurice and Jimmy," continued Cecil. "Oh, you have never met the boys; you don't know what rascals they are, not Maurice—he is a prince of boys—but the others."