"Well, I am very glad."
"He asks me in his letter," Mrs. Conway said with a passing smile of
amusement, "if I can take in a young friend of his, Miss Mabel
Withers. He says she has never been from home before, and that it
would be a treat for her to get away and see a little of the world. He
is going to stop a few days in London, and show her the sights on his
way back."
"That will be very jolly, mother. You know I told you what a nice sort
of girl she was, and how well we got on together. I don't know how I
should have got through my visit there if it hadn't been for her. Her
father and mother were very kind too, and I was often over at their
house."
Mr. Penfold had not succeeded in inducing Mr. and Mrs. Withers to
allow Mabel to accompany him without much argument. "You know what I
have set my mind on, Mrs. Withers," he said. "But of course such an
idea doesn't enter the young people's heads, it would be very
undesirable that it should do. But now Ralph has returned he will be
wanting to get his commission at once, and then he may be away on
foreign service for years, and I do think it would be a good thing for
the young people to see as much of each other as possible before he
goes. If anything happens to me before he comes back, and you know how
probable it is that this will be the case, they would meet almost as
strangers, and I do want to see my pet scheme at least on the way to
be carried out before I go.
Pages:
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168