“I am quite well,” he answered, “and I have good news for you. Who do you think is coming to stay here to-day?”
“Whom?” asked the girl. “My cousin’s son from Australia—John Saxon. I have not seen him since he was a baby. You will have some fun now, Annie, with a young person in the house.”
“Is he really young?” said Annie.
“Young, my dear? I should think so; about five or six and twenty. He’s as good a lad as ever walked. I had a long letter from his mother. She says he is going to pay me a visit, and I may expect him—yes, to-day. You will have something to look forward to now, Annie, if Lady Lushington’s character as a worldly-minded woman prevents my sending you to Paris.”
“But I think I shall go to Paris,” said Annie. She looked very pretty and expectant. The rector uttered a slight sigh.
“Come in, uncle; I must give you your breakfast, even if fifty John Saxons are coming to pay you a visit. Oh yes, of course I am glad.”
But she did not feel so; she had a dim sort of idea that this young man might interfere with her own plans.