'Poor dear child,' said Miss Clotilda, 'you shouldn't take it to heart so. It'll be a little lesson to you to be more careful about such things; will it not, dear?'
'Yes, indeed,' said Kathleen. She could not tell her kind aunt why she felt it so much—it would have been wrong to pain her by repeating the naughty, foolish things she had said of her—and this in itself made the impression still deeper.
'And the little girl—your friend who has written to you—is she not the same one you were speaking of the other day?' asked Miss Clotilda, to change the subject.
'Yes, aunty; and oh, I am so sorry for her! May I tell you what she says?' And Kathie read aloud Philippa's letter.
'Poor little girl!' said Miss Clotilda. 'What does she mean by asking you at the end not to forget your promise?'
'Oh,' said Kathleen, 'she's a little silly about that. She—I told her about the will, aunty—you don't mind? I didn't tell any one else'—
'It matters very little,' said Miss Clotilda. 'There is no secret about it. Everybody here knows the whole story. But what was your promise?'
'Phil had an idea that nobody had looked enough—for the will, or for the letter telling where it was to be found,' said Kathleen. 'She said she was sure she would think of new places to look in if she were here, and she made me promise to try. But—I am sure you have looked everywhere, aunty—it would seem impertinent of Neville and me to try to look.'
'Not that, my dear,' said Miss Clotilda, 'but really and truly there is nowhere else to look. Do you know we have taken down and shaken every book in the library? A man, accustomed to such things, came on purpose. I have thought about the letter of directions too, but it is much less likely to be found than the will itself. It would be so small. If Mrs. Wynne had not given me the envelope containing the blank paper, so very shortly before her death, I should have begun to think that she had changed her mind and made no will at all. And yet—it was so unlike her. No, I feel sure the blank paper was put in by mistake.'