Then turning to Mrs Derwent:
“Will you allow me to call again?” he said very clearly. “I intend to stay at Alderwood for two or three days longer.”
“Oh, certainly, if you happen to be anyway near,” she replied simply.
Then a bright idea struck Archie, as his glance fell on Herty.
“I wish you’d allow this young man to spend a day with me,” he said. “I’d take good care of him, and it is holidays just now, I know. I shall be driving in to-morrow morning in my dog-cart, and I will call for him, if he may come.”
“Oh mamma, mamma,” said Herty, ecstatically, “do say I may!”
It would have required a heart of stone to refuse the poor little fellow, and Mrs Derwent’s heart was by no means of that material.
“It is very good indeed of you, Mr Dunstan,” she replied; “and I am sure Herty would enjoy it immensely. Of course he has not nearly so much to amuse him here as at Pinnerton.”
“Then I will call for him at—let me see—shall we say eleven o’clock? and I’ll bring him safe back in the afternoon. Between four and five, if that will do?”
“Perfectly,” said Mrs Derwent, and then Mr Dunstan left taking care not to glance into the shop as he passed its open door on his way out.