He must not speak now, for this was Wednesday, and on the morrow the girl was to leave. The bustle of preparation had to be got over, and at ten o'clock in the morning Norah must be ready to depart.
So much had to be crowded into so short a time that there was little leisure for uttering vain regrets, though a running fire of these was kept up on all sides through the day and during the gathering together of Norah's belongings.
"Shall you have any spare time?" asked Richard at luncheon. "Or will it be all bustle until you step into the carriage?"
"I shall have the whole evening," replied Norah; "all the time, I mean, from four o'clock. I could not do without a last happy night to look back upon. I can never thank you all for your kindness to me."
"Thank us by coming back and bringing your father as soon as possible. For the present, I, for one owe you much, Norah; so the balance is really on the other side. My home was never so graced before," he added, with a smile and a look which made a flush cover the girl's fair face, "or seemed so bright a place to me."
But she looked bravely up at him in return, and said—
"I will certainly come back to Mere Side, if I may, and bring my father too. You ought to know each other. You only need to meet to be friends."
That afternoon they all had early tea on the terrace, and as they sat there the old swallows circled round and round, feeding their young ones in the air, and exercising them preparatory to the long flight before them. Down they came, skimming the surface of the lake, which was all aglow with the rays of the declining sun, dipping in its waters, and then gathering on the roof to plume themselves after their bath.
"The swallows are getting ready for flight, like you, Norah," said Richard. "A little while and they will all be gone. See, that is a hawk in the distance. I hope he will not carry off any fledgling to-night."
"You know everything," she replied. "Birds, bees, trees, flowers are all familiar. You only need a glance to name them."