"I think if we got you so far we should persuade you to go with us," Mrs. Kavanagh said with a smile.
He sat silent for a minute. Of course she could not seriously mean such a thing. But at all events she would not be displeased if he crossed their path while they were actually abroad.
"It is getting too late in the year to go to Scotland now," he said with some hesitation.
"Oh most certainly," Mrs. Lorraine said.
"I don't know where the man in whose yacht I was to have gone may be now. I might spend half my holiday in trying to catch him."
"And during that time you would be alone," Mrs. Lorraine said.
"I suppose the Tyrol is a very nice place," he suggested.
"Oh most delightful," she exclaimed. "You know, we should go round by Switzerland, and go up by Luzerne and Zurich to the end of the Lake of Constance. Bregenz, mamma, isn't that the place where we hired that good-natured man the year before last?"
"Yes, child."
"Now, you see, Mr. Ingram, if you had less time than we—if you could not start with us to-morrow—you might come straight down by Schaffhausen and the steamer, and catch us up there, and then mamma would become your guide. I am sure we should have some pleasant days together till you got tired of us, and then you could go off on a walking-tour if you pleased. And then, you know, there would be no difficulty about our meeting at Bregenz, for mamma and I have plenty of time, and we should wait there for a few days, so as to make sure."