“Dear mamma, only to-day. It was only this morning that Jupp resigned.”
“Only to-day! It must have been decided very hastily, then, for a measure of that sort.”
“Mr. Williams was so put to it that he took care to lose no time. He spoke to me at one o’clock. I had gone to him to the cathedral, asking for the copying, which I heard was going begging, and he broached the other subject, on the spur of the moment, as it seemed to me. Nothing could be decided until I had seen Mr. Galloway, and I spoke to him after he left here, this afternoon. He will allow me to be absent from the office an hour, morning and afternoon, on condition that I attend for two hours before breakfast.”
“But, Arthur, you will have a great deal upon your hands.”
“Not any too much. It will keep me out of mischief.”
“When shall you find time to do the copying?”
“In an evening, I suppose. I shall find plenty of time.”
As Hamish had observed, there was little to do at the books, that evening, and he soon left the parlour. Constance happened to be in the hall as he crossed it, on his way to his bedroom. Judith, who appeared to have been on the watch, came gliding from the half-opened kitchen door and approached Constance, looking after Hamish as he went up the stairs.
“Do you see, Miss Constance?” she whispered. “He is carrying the books up with him, as usual!”
At this juncture, Hamish turned round to speak to his sister. “Constance, I don’t want any supper to-night, tell my mother. You can call me when it is time for the reading.”