"You have anticipated my wish about little Ralph, and made all so easy for aunty too."
"I hope it will not disappoint you to give up town this season, Kathleen," he replied.
"Indeed no. I would a thousand times rather have the time at the seaside and with those who are dear to me for companions, than share in all the gaiety a really gay season in town could give. Not that I have known such a one," she added. "We shall be very happy amid simpler and more health-giving enjoyments. How well you have fulfilled the promise you made me about Ralph! You have influenced him for good in a thousand ways. We will try to give the child a happy month at St. Leonards."
"We will indeed," said Aylmer. "There is little doubt that his father will consent to his going with you, Kathleen."
"With us, if you please, Aylmer. Remember you were the first to invite the boy, but I know you thought of me as well as of him!"
"If you had been out of the question, I think the memory of Ralph's pitiful face would have haunted me, had we left him behind."
"But I was not out of the question. You meant to please me too by your prompt invitation. I want you to realise how much I feel your thoughtful goodness, and to thank you for it."
Carried away for the moment, the girl caught Aylmer's hand, raised it to her lips, then left him abruptly, as if ashamed of her impulsive action.
Some men might have derived hope from this and the words which preceded it. Aylmer sighed, and said to himself, "If Kathleen were moved by any warmer affection than the sisterly one to which she confesses, she would not manifest it in such a way."
There is no need to tell anything about the arrangements, the journey, or even the stay at St. Leonards. To Mrs. Ellicott it proved health-giving, to her younger companions a season of unalloyed enjoyment.