When she told the news, Mary exclaimed--
"Oh, how charming! Then we shall see this new member after all!"
while Elizabeth added--
"Yes! I shall like to do that. But where must we be? Papa will
want the dining-room and this room, and where must we sit?"
"Oh!" said Ruth, "in the dressing-room next to my room. All that
your papa wants always, is that you are quiet and out of the
way."
CHAPTER XXIII
RECOGNITION
Saturday came. Torn, ragged clouds were driven across the sky. It
was not a becoming day for the scenery, and the little girls
regretted it much. First they hoped for a change at twelve
o'clock, and then at the afternoon tide-turning. But at neither
time did the sun show his face.
"Papa will never buy this dear place," said Elizabeth sadly, as
she watched the weather. "The sun is everything to it. The sea
looks quite leaden to-day, and there is no sparkle on it. And the
sands, that were so yellow and sun-speckled on Thursday, are all
one dull brown now."
"Never mind! to-morrow may be better," said Ruth cheerily.
"I wonder what time they will come at?" inquired Mary.
"Your papa said they would be at the station at five, o'clock.
And the landlady at the 'Swan' said it would take them
half-an-hour to get here."
"And they are to dine at six?" asked Elizabeth.
"Yes," answered Ruth. "And I think, if we had our tea
half-an-hour earlier, at half-past four, and then went out for a
walk, we should be nicely out of the way just during the bustle
of the arrival and dinner; and we could be in the drawing-room
ready against your papa came in after dinner.
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