“Indeed we shall,” Daintry chimed in. “Let us go and find seats, and Jack will bring the things after us.”
He assented meekly—very meekly for sharp Jack Smith—and presently came along with his arms full of parcels, to find them ensconced in the nearer seats of a compartment, which contained also one gentleman who was already deep in the “Times.” Jack, standing at the open door, could not see his face, for it was hidden by the newspaper, but he could see that his legs wore a youthful and reckless air; and he raised his eyebrows interrogatively. “Pooh!” whispered Daintry in answer. “How stupid you are! It is all right. I can see he is a clergyman by his boots!”
Jack smiled at this assurance, and, putting in the things he was holding, shut the door and stood outside, looking first at the platform about him, on which all was flurry and confusion, and then at the interior of the carriage, which seemed in comparison peaceful and homelike. “I think I will come with you to Westbourne Park,” he said suddenly.
“Nonsense, Jack!” Kate replied, with crushing decision. “We shall be there in five minutes, and you will have all the trouble of returning for nothing.”
He acquiesced meekly—poor Jack! “Well,” he said, with a new effort at cheerfulness, “you will soon be at home, girls. Remember me to the governor. I am afraid you will be rather dull at first. You will have one scrap of excitement, however.”
“What is that?” said Kate, very much as if she were prepared to depreciate it before she knew what it was.
“The new rector!”
“He will make very little difference to us!” the girl answered, with an accent almost of scorn. “Papa said in his letter that he thought it was a great pity a local man had not been appointed—some one who knew the place and the old ways. You say he is clever and nice; but either way it will not affect us much.”
No one noticed that the “Times” newspaper in the far corner of the compartment rustled suspiciously, and that the clerical boots became agitated on a sudden, as though their wearer meditated a move; and, in ignorance of this, “I expect I shall hate him!” said Daintry calmly.
“Come, you must not do that,” Jack remonstrated “You must remember that he is not only a very good fellow, but a great friend of mine.”