Was I right?

by Mrs. O. F. Walton

"So he seemed to be, I grant," said Sir William; "but how do we know who he is, or what he is? We only know it from what he told us himself; and that may be true—I hope it is—or it may be false. That is why it is very foolish ever to be too friendly with people you meet when travelling; they may be all they profess to be, or they may not."

"But Mr. Stanley is a great friend of Lord Moreton, papa," said Evelyn; "I know he is. He told me he was the day Claude and Alice were here."

"Yes, I know he told you so," said Sir William; "I never heard Lord Moreton mention him."

"Will you not write and ask Lord Moreton, papa? It is quite worth while, and then we shall know one way or the other."

"Yes, perhaps I will," said Sir William; "that will settle the matter anyhow; perhaps Lord Moreton may be able to clear up the mystery."

The next day was the mail day, and Sir William gave me his letters to take to the man who was going to post them. I looked through the addresses as I went downstairs, but there was none to Lord Moreton: he had forgotten it.

We did not much enjoy our visit to Jerusalem after Mr. Stanley left us. We had very cold and cheerless weather, and the bare stone floors and covered stones were poor substitutes for the richly-carpeted rooms and bright blazing fires in Alliston Hall. Then during the cold weather it rained incessantly the whole day, and the rain was far heavier than we ever see it in England. We were obliged to keep indoors in the hotel, listening to the sound of the water which was rushing down the spouts of the house into the cisterns, in which it was carefully preserved for use during the following summer, and trying to amuse ourselves as best we could with our work, and the few books to be found in the hotel. Sir William became very impatient, and a great longing came suddenly over him to go homewards. He was tired of foreign travelling, and foreign places, and foreign hotels, he said, and Evelyn seemed so well and strong, that he thought there could be no risk in her returning to England.

Evelyn and I assented cordially to the proposal, so it was decided to leave Jaffa by the very next steamer.

We visited many places in Italy and Germany, and spent a long time on the return journey; for Sir William was afraid, for Evelyn's sake, of arriving, in England till the spring had fairly begun.

I was very much interested in a great deal that we saw, and yet I did not enjoy it nearly so much as I had always imagined I should enjoy a tour on the Continent. I felt unsettled and restless, and longed to be back in England.