But Kathleen herself was determined not to give way to any real feelings of misery on account of Ruth's desertion.
"I have no time to think about it," she said to herself.
When she returned to the house she found a telegram waiting for her. She tore it open. It was from Aunt Katie O'Flynn:
"I have arrived. Come and have dinner with me to-night at the Métropole, and bring any friend you like."
"What a lark!" thought Kathleen. "And what a chance for Ruth if only she had been different! Oh, dear! I suppose I must ask Alice to come with me."
"Whom is your telegram from, dear?" asked Mrs. Tennant, coming up to her at that moment.
Alice was standing in the dining-room devouring a book of Greek history. She held it close to her eyes, which were rather short-sighted.
"It's from Aunt Katie O'Flynn. She has come, the darling!" said Kathleen. "She wants me to go to London to dine with her to-night. Of course I'll go.—- You will come with me, won't you, Alice? She says I am to bring some one."
"No, I can't come," said Alice; "and for that matter no more can you. It takes quite thirty-five minutes to get to Charing Cross, and then you have to get to the Métropole. We girls are not allowed to go to London by ourselves."
"As if that mattered."