'Of course she can,' I said, all my hospitable feelings awakened—for I can never feel but that Windy Gap is my particular home—'Shall I go and ask her? Our tea must be ready now in the dining-room.'
'That will do capitally,' said Cousin Cosmo. 'I'll have a cup of tea now with you three, in the first place, and then as long as the daylight lasts you must show me the lions of Windy Gap, Helena. It is a quaint little place,' he added, looking round, 'and I am sure it must have a great charm of its own, but I am afraid my aunt and you must have found it very cold and exposed in bad weather?'
'Sometimes,' I said; 'the last winter here was pretty bad.'
'Yes,' he answered, 'it is not a place for the middle of winter,' but that was all he said.
I was turning to leave the room when another thought struck me.
'Cousin Cosmo,' I asked timidly, 'will grandmamma want me to go to school very soon?'
He smiled, rather a funny smile.
'Put it out of your mind till I go back to London, and talk things over,' he replied. 'I want all of us to be as happy as possible this evening. Send Harry in here for a moment.'
I met Harry outside in the hall.
'Is it all right?' he said, anxiously.