"
"Really, Cecil, that's too bad. He let me come on board!"
"Do you think I should have brought you here if I had thought you
meant to make yourself ridiculous?"
"It is of no use, Sydney," said Babie; "there's no dealing with the
stern and staid pere de famille. I wonder what he would have liked
Essie to do, if he had had to go and leave her for nearly two months
when he had only been married a week?"
"Essie is quite a different thing-—I mean she has sense and self-
possession."
"Mamma, won't you speak for us?" implored Sydney. "I did behave so
well when he went! Nobody would have guessed we hadn't been married
fifty years."
"Still I think Cecil is quite right, and that it may be better for
them all to manage the landing quietly."
"Without a pack of women," said Cecil. "Here we are! I hope you
will find a tolerable room for him and no stairs."
As if poor Mrs. Evelyn were not well enough used to choosing rooms
for invalids!
Twilight had come, the gas had been turned on, and the three anxious
ladies stood in the window gazing vainly at endless vehicles, when
the door opened and they beheld sundry figures entering.
Sydney and Barbara flew, the one to her husband, the other to her
mother, and presently all stood round the fire looking at one
another.
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