Peggy ran after him with a little skip, slipped her hand through his arm, and rubbed her face coaxingly against the shoulder of his rough tweed suit.
“He is just a down-trodden old dear, isn’t he? So mild and obedient—a perfectly nonentity in his own house! No one trembles before him! He never lays down the law as if he were the Tsar of All the Russias, or twenty German Emperors rolled into one! Now does that really mean that you are to be out for lunch? I’m housekeeper, you know, and it makes a difference to my arrangement. You won’t say you are going to be out, then appear suddenly at the last moment?”
“Not I! I shall be miles away, and cannot spare the time to come so far; but for that matter I cannot see why it should make any difference. One person more or less can be of no importance.”
“He is though, very much indeed, when it happens to be the head of the family!” remarked Peggy sagely to her mother when they were left alone, “because I don’t mind confessing to you, dear, that, owing to the agitation consequent on my interview with the fair Rosalind, I entirely omitted to post my order for the butcher! If father had been at home, I should have been compelled to drive over in the heat and dust; but as it is, I can send a card by the early post, and the things will be here for dinner. You don’t object, I know, for you have a mind above trifles, and I can provide quite a nice little meal for two.”
“Oh, I don’t mind for myself, but do be careful to send your orders regularly, darling!” pleaded her mother earnestly. “We are so entirely in the country that a day might come when you were not able to get supplies at the last moment, and then what would you do? Imagine how awkward it might be!”
“I’d rather not, if you don’t mind! It would be quite bad enough if it really happened. We won’t anticipate evil, but have a lazy morning together in the garden, browsing in deck-chairs, and eating fruit at frequent intervals. It is so lovely to sit under one’s own trees, in one’s own garden, with one’s very own mummie by one’s side. Girls who have lived in England all their lives can never appreciate having home and parents at the same time, in the same way in which I do. It seems almost too good to be true, to be really settled down together!”
“Oh, thank God, we never were really separated, Peg! One of the heart-breaking things of a life abroad is that parents and children so often grow up practical strangers to each other; but you and I were always together at heart, and your dear letters were so transparent that I seemed to read all that was in your mind. It was partly Mrs Asplin’s doing too—dear good woman, for she gave you the care and mothering which you needed to develop your character, yet never tried to take my place. Yes, indeed, we must do all we can for Esther! Find out what she would like, dear, and we will go to town together and buy the best of its kind. I can never do enough for Mrs Asplin’s children.”
There was so much to talk about, so much to discuss, that when lunch-time approached both mother and daughter were surprised to find how quickly the morning had passed. It was so cool and breezy sitting under the shade of the trees that they were both unwilling to return to the house, and at Peggy’s suggestion orders were given that lunch should be served where they sat.
“It will do me more credit; for what would appear a paltry provision spread out on the big dining-room table, will look quite sylvan and luxurious against this flowery background,” she said brightly, and in the very moment of speaking her jaw dropped, and her eyes grew blank and fixed, as if beholding a vision too terrible to be real.
Round the corner or the house, one—two—three masculine forms were coming into view; three men in Norfolk jackets, shooting breeches and deer-stalker caps; dusty and dishevelled, yet with that indefinable air of relaxation which spoke of rest well-earned. They were no chance visitors, they had come to stay, to stay to be fed! Every confident step proved as much, every smile of assured welcome. Peggy’s groan of despair aroused her mother’s attention, she turned and gave an echoing exclamation.