She motioned the servant aside, and, accompanying her visitor to the door, insisted upon opening her umbrella and helping to tuck up the well-worn skirt. Her bonnie face shone out under the light as she waved her hand and cried out eagerly, “Come soon! Come soon!” Miss Beveridge shut her lips tightly and did not reply in words, but she did something which was more expressive—she dropped her skirt into the mud on purpose to wave a response! The November evening was dark and cheerless enough to strike a chill to the stoutest heart, but one solitary woman walked through it with a new glow at her heart. The warm light streaming out into the darkness, the sweet welcoming voice, were as meat and drink to her starved soul.
In the drawing-room the girls awaited Nan’s return with some anxiety, but, to their amazement, she came bounding upstairs two steps at a time, all abeam with complacent delight. What a comfort it was that she had so soon returned to her senses!
“Has she gone? Really gone! What a relief!”
“She’s coming again! She said she would. Thank goodness for that!”
“Mrs Vanburgh, you—you can’t mean it! She was a horror! You can’t possibly want to see her again! She was as cross as two sticks because she had come once, so why should she try it a second time?”
“She didn’t understand, and it was a shock to find us all so young. Yes, of course I want her! She’s just the sort I do want; the happy, prosperous ones have no need of me. Oh, did you see her poor grey face?”
Betty shivered dramatically.
“I did! It made me think of vinegar and, lemon-juice, and all the sour things you can think of mixed together. Her lips were so thin you could hardly see them at all, and they turned right down at the corners.”
“She was pretty once, prettier than any of us—her features are perfect still. She’s worried, and ill, and badly dressed. Did you see her blouse?”
“Yes!” Betty sighed sententiously. “It was such a comfort to me. I’d been feeling so grumpy because my own was horrid compared to yours, but when I saw that grey flannel atrocity I felt I ought to be thankful instead?”