He blew a kiss to his nieces, nodded to the other girls, and left the room.
“Then it is something very exciting,” said Kitty. “I thought so when he frowned and his brows met in a line, and then when he gave that quick little jerk and sort of sigh. Oh dear! aren’t you nearly mad with curiosity, Nancy?”
“I should like to know what Aunt Jessie has written about,” said Nancy. “But, after all, Uncle Pete will tell us in a very short time; and I must go now and feed my canary.”
Nora and Kitty had given Nancy a very beautiful canary a few days before. The bird was a splendid specimen of its kind, and sang magnificently. She had hung it up in her own bedroom, and now went up to give it fresh seed and groundsel.
The quarter of an hour soon passed, and the four girls met Captain Richmond on the terrace, which at that hour in the morning was quite cool and sheltered from the fierce rays of the sun. He was seated reading that wonderful letter for the third time; but when he saw the girls he thrust it into his pocket and came to meet them.
“Now then,” he said, “for my news, which is somewhat startling. We shall not have your dear, kind mother here for the present.”
“Why?” said Kitty. “Is her friend so very ill?”
“Poor thing, she is very ill indeed, Kitty—I fear alarmingly so; and your mother—just like her kindness—is going to accompany her to South Africa. They start on Monday, and your mother says she has no time to return home between now and then. Indeed, even if she had, she could not leave Mrs. Rashleigh. Justine will arrive to-day or to-morrow and pack her things.”
“Don’t cry, Kitty,” said Nora; “mother would not go if she could help it.”
“Of course not,” said Kitty; but as she sat down on the nearest seat her pretty little face was white and tears were brimming over in her eyes.