"Yes, my dear, but only for a week or ten days."
"Will she come and see us now she is so near?" she enquired.
"I will read what she says about that, my dear," said Mrs. Lesly, taking up the letter, (some part of the aunt's communications being always mysteriously reserved).
Here it is:—
"I cannot leave Gloucestershire without coming to see you, dear Annie, and your sweet children, and therefore, if you say nothing to the contrary, I will drive over some how on Monday, and remain till Tuesday. If not asking too much of my dear sister, I shall leave Lucy with you; she is not quite well, and a run in the country will do her good, after the heat of Bath. My little girl finds pleasure in anything, and I promise you she shall be very good if you will let her come to you."
"Oh, how nice, mamma," cried Amy.
"Very nice that your aunt is coming, I allow," said Mrs. Lesly, "but I do not know what to say to Lucy, all little girls are not so good as my Amy."
"It would be unkind to refuse her," said Mabel.
"And if she is not well, poor child," added her mother. "I quite forget how old Lucy is, she cannot be so very little after all."