“Children! we have news for you. You are going to have a new companion. Father has had a letter this afternoon about another pupil—”
Mellicent yawned, and Esther looked calmly uninterested, but the three lads were full of interest. Their faces turned towards the vicar with expressions of eager curiosity.
“A new fellow! This term! From what school, sir?”
“A ladies’ boarding-school at Brighton!” Mrs Asplin spoke rapidly, so as to be beforehand with her husband, and her eyes danced with mischievous enjoyment, as she saw the dismay depicted on the three watching faces. A ladies’ school! Maxwell, Oswald, and Robert, had a vision of a pampered pet in curls, and round jacket, and their backs stiffened in horrified indignation at the idea that grown men of seventeen and eighteen should be expected to associate with a “kid” from a ladies’ school!
The vicar could not restrain a smile, but he hastened to correct the mistake. “It’s not a ‘fellow’ at all, this time. It’s a girl! We have had a letter from Arthur Saville’s mother, asking us to look after her daughter while she is in India. She will come to us very soon, and stay, I suppose, for three or four years, sharing your lessons, my dears, and studying with you—”
“A girl! Good gracious! Where will she sleep?” cried Mellicent, with characteristic matter-of-fact curiosity, while Esther chimed in with further inquiries.
“What is her name? How old is she? What is she like? When will she come? Why is she leaving school?”
“Not very happy. Peggy. In the little box-room over the study. About fifteen, I believe. Haven’t the least idea. In a few weeks from now,” said Mrs Asplin, answering all the questions at once in her impulsive fashion, the while she walked round the table, stroked Maxwell’s curls, bent an interested glance at Robert’s collection, and laid a hand on Esther’s back, to straighten bowed shoulders. “She is Arthur’s sister, so she is sure to be nice, and both her parents will be in India, so you must all be kind to the poor little soul, and give her a hearty welcome.”
Silence! Nobody had a word to say in response to this remark; but the eyes of the young people met furtively across the table, and Mr Asplin felt that they were only waiting until their seniors should withdraw before bursting into eager conversation.
“Better leave them to have it out by themselves,” he whispered significantly to his wife; then added aloud, “Well, we won’t interrupt you any longer. Don’t turn the play-hour into work, Rob! You will study all the better for a little relaxation. You have proved the truth of that axiom, Oswald—eh?” and he went laughing out of the room, while Oswald held the door open for his wife, smiling assent in lazy fashion.