His start of pleasure was very evident.
"I am glad," he said simply; "I want you to know these men."
"And my mother is coming with me."
Her voice was constrained. Meynell felt a natural surprise. He paused an instant, and then said with gentle emphasis:
"I don' think there will be anything to wound her. At any rate, there will be nothing new, or strange—to her—in what is said to-night."
"Oh, no!" Then, after a moment's awkwardness, she said, "We shall soon be going away."
His face changed.
"Going away? I thought you would be here for the winter!"
"No. Mother is so much better, we are going to our little house in the
Lakes, in Long Whindale. We came here because mother was ill—and Aunt
Rose begged us. But—"
"Do you know"—he interrupted her impetuously—"that for six months I've had a hunger for just one fortnight up there among the fells?"