The girl's eyes suddenly filled with tears.
"No; poor mother! I wanted her to go--we had a good nurse--but she would not leave me, though she was devoted to my grandfather. She--"
"She is always anxious about you?"
"Yes. My health has been a trouble lately, and since father died--"
"She has only you."
They walked on a few paces in silence. Then the girl looked up eagerly.
"You saw grandfather at the last? Do tell me about it, please. My uncles write so little."
Julie obeyed with difficulty. She had not realized how hard it would be for her to talk of Lord Lackington. But she described the old man's gallant dying as best she could; while Aileen Moffatt listened with that manner at once timid and rich in feeling which seemed to be her characteristic.
As they neared the top of the hill where the road begins to incline towards Charnex, Julie noticed signs of fatigue in her companion.
"You have been an invalid," she said. "You ought not to go farther. May I take you home? Would your mother dislike to see me?"