“Now tell me, dear,” she said; “what comes first?”
“The first thing is,” said Hope, “to have Emilia’s absence explained to Mrs. Meredith in some such way that she will think no more of it, and not talk about it.”
“Certainly,” said Aunt Jane. “There is but one way to do that. I will call on her myself.”
“You, auntie?” said Hope.
“Yes, I,” said her aunt. “I have owed her a call for five years. It is the only thing that will excite her so much as to put all else out of her head.”
“O auntie!” said Hope, greatly relieved, “if you only would! But ought you really to go out? It is almost raining.”
“I shall go,” said Aunt Jane, decisively, “if it rains little boys!”
“But will not Mrs. Meredith wonder—?” began Hope.
“That is one advantage,” interrupted her aunt, “of being an absurd old woman. Nobody ever wonders at anything I do, or else it is that they never stop wondering.”
She sent Ruth erelong to order the horses. Hope collected her various wrappers, and Ruth, returning, got her mistress into a state of preparation.