"Not till Trinity," he replied. "You know I am obliged to be here as much as possible now my father is disabled; I took up my Master's degree in June last year."
There were quick farewells and fond embracing of the children as they rose to leave. "Good-by, papa—good-by, mamma," was echoed from one to the other as the carriage drove off; and then Louisa Franklyn turned to her husband and said, "Well, this is a comfort, Arthur: at last I shall have your society all to myself for a week without the constant trouble and anxiety of those children."
But Arthur Franklyn's recollections of the past were too strong just then to make him thankful to get rid of his children. "I'm afraid I shall have to pay dearly for Louisa's fortune if I do get it," was his very uncomplimentary reflection.
CHAPTER XXV.
COUNTRY COUSINS.
Mr. Armstrong was seated in his private room one afternoon two days after the arrival of Mr. Franklyn and his family at Englefield Grange.
So deeply was he absorbed in calculating the profit and loss of some recent speculations that a knock at the door startled him, and he answered, in an impetuous tone, "Come in!"
The young clerk who obeyed the impatient command could only falter out, "A lady wishes to see you, sir," and the very next moment a middle-aged lady, with a youth of sixteen entered the room and stood before its irritable occupant.
Edward Armstrong rose from his chair too bewildered at first to recognise his visitor, whose attire, though good and expensive, could scarcely give her the right, in appearance to him at least, to be described as a lady.