author - "Mrs George de Horne Vaizey"
, but darkly hinted at the little rift within the lute, and somehow after that night the glamour seemed to have departed from this honeymoon pair, and the fair seeming was regarded with suspicion.
As regards the matter of distance, it took an easy two minutes to cover the space between the front doors of the two houses, and there seemed an endless number of reasons why the members of the different families should fly round to consult each other a dozen times a day. Darsie and Lavender, Vi and plain Hannah attended the same High School; the Garnett boys and John Vernon the same Royal Institute, but the fact that they walked to and from school together, and spent the intervening hours in the same class-rooms, by no means mitigated the necessity of meeting again during luncheon and tea hours. In holiday times the necessity naturally increased, and bells pealed incessantly in response to tugs from youthful hands.
Then came the time of the great servants' strike. That bell was a perfect nuisance; rin
oice was very real, but her brother refused to treat it seriously.
He shrugged his shoulders, and smiled an easy smile.
"Oh, I should rub along. I might get in a working housekeeper, or I could take a room in town. I might work better for a change of scene. If you would like to go--"
"I shouldn't like anything which left you alone. It would not be worth going for less than six months, and I couldn't possibly do that. I am of some use to you, Martin!"
This time the appeal was too direct to be ignored and the response came readily enough.
"A very great deal. You have managed admirably, but it is possible to be too unselfish. If you would like a change--"
Katrine drew in her breath with a sharp inhalation. "Like it!" like to spend months with Dorothea and Jack Middleton! Like to have the experiences of that thrilling voyage, past the Bay, past Gib., along the Mediterranean, through the Canal to the glowing East! Like to see India, with
, but darkly hinted at the little rift within the lute, and somehow after that night the glamour seemed to have departed from this honeymoon pair, and the fair seeming was regarded with suspicion.
As regards the matter of distance, it took an easy two minutes to cover the space between the front doors of the two houses, and there seemed an endless number of reasons why the members of the different families should fly round to consult each other a dozen times a day. Darsie and Lavender, Vi and plain Hannah attended the same High School; the Garnett boys and John Vernon the same Royal Institute, but the fact that they walked to and from school together, and spent the intervening hours in the same class-rooms, by no means mitigated the necessity of meeting again during luncheon and tea hours. In holiday times the necessity naturally increased, and bells pealed incessantly in response to tugs from youthful hands.
Then came the time of the great servants' strike. That bell was a perfect nuisance; rin
oice was very real, but her brother refused to treat it seriously.
He shrugged his shoulders, and smiled an easy smile.
"Oh, I should rub along. I might get in a working housekeeper, or I could take a room in town. I might work better for a change of scene. If you would like to go--"
"I shouldn't like anything which left you alone. It would not be worth going for less than six months, and I couldn't possibly do that. I am of some use to you, Martin!"
This time the appeal was too direct to be ignored and the response came readily enough.
"A very great deal. You have managed admirably, but it is possible to be too unselfish. If you would like a change--"
Katrine drew in her breath with a sharp inhalation. "Like it!" like to spend months with Dorothea and Jack Middleton! Like to have the experiences of that thrilling voyage, past the Bay, past Gib., along the Mediterranean, through the Canal to the glowing East! Like to see India, with