uld have known her, fussing away to have the kettle
boiling, so that her darling should have some hot tea as soon as ever he
came in--for she wouldn't allow but that he would soon come in, though
sad little stories kept running through Celia's and Denny's heads about
children that had been lost and never found, or found only when it was
no longer they themselves but only their poor little bodies, drowned,
perhaps, or "choked in the snow," as Denny said. And she got rather
cross when Celia reminded her that there was no snow, so it couldn't be
_that_, any way.

All this was bad enough, but still they were free to talk about their
fears, and to cry if they felt inclined, and to keep running to the
window or the door. But for poor mother, as you can fancy, it was _much_
worse. There she had to sit smiling and talking as if everything were
quite nice and comfortable, not only for the sake of the friends who had
come to dine with them, but still more for poor grandfather's sake, who
kept growing more and more fidgety and put out, and at the bottom of his
heart, though he would not own it even to himself, really frightened and
anxious.

At last his patience was exhausted.

"May," he said, speaking across the fireplace to mother. She was talking
to the lady beside her, and did not at first hear him. "_May_," said
grandfather again, and if the children had been in the room I think his
voice would have made them jump, "it is using our friends very badly to
keep them waiting so long for dinner. Be so good as to ring again and
tell the servants we will _not_ wait any longer."

Poor mother--she looked up--it was all she could do not to burst into
tears!

"Yes," she said, "I will tell them."

She was half rising from her seat, whispering to the lady beside her
(the lady who _did_ know all about it), "I don't know _how_ I shall get
through dinner," when--what was it?--no bell had rung, there was no
sound that any one else heard, what could it have been that _mother_
heard? I don't know what it was, and I daresay mother herself could not
have told, but something she did hear. For she stopped short, and a sort
of eager look came into her eyes and a flush into her cheeks. And then
the other people in the room seemed to catch the infection, and
everybody else looked up to see what was coming, and in the silence a
sort of fumbling was heard at the door. It only lasted a second or two,
then somehow the handle turned, much more quick