She turned to Wickham and said:
“Will you take me for a row in Kensington Gardens the very next day the sun shines?”
“Rather!” said Wickham, “on one condition!”
“And that?”
“That you’ll be kind to my little Elsa when she comes.”
“I’ll be a mother to her,” said Eileen, “but she must come quick or I’ll be gone.”
“Gone?”
Wickham spoke with dismay in his voice. I think he had counted on Eileen as his stand-by when Elsa would need a friend in England.
“Hush now!” said Daddy Small. “It’s my secret, you wicked lady with black eyes and a mystical manner.”