waited for the other to speak. Must I give up the picnic after all?
thought Anna.

"I don't gather that it's anything serious," said Mrs Forrest at
length. "I think the best plan will be for me to go over to Dornton,
after you've started, and see Dr Hunt. Then, if there's really no
danger of infection, you can go there early to-morrow," She looked
inquiringly at Anna, as though half-expecting her to make some other
suggestion. The sound of wheels on the gravel, and the tramp of horses,
told that the Palmers were approaching: the wagonette, full of gay young
people, drove up to the porch.

"Are you ready, Anna?" called out Isabel's voice.

"Will that satisfy you?" said Mrs Forrest; "you must decide now."

"We're late, Anna," said Isabel again, "why don't you come?"

Anna hesitated. She looked out at the bright sunshine, where her
companions called her to gaiety and pleasure, and then at the letter in
her aunt's hand.

"Here's your cloak, Miss Anna," said the maid waiting at the door.

In another moment, it seemed almost without any will of her own, she was
squeezed into the carriage amongst her laughing companions, had waved a
farewell to Mrs Forrest standing smiling in the porch, and was whirled
away to the picnic.

The hours of the sunny day, filled with delight for Anna amongst the
pleasant woods of Alderbury, did not pass so quickly at Number 4 Back
Row. The Professor was ill. He had had a slight feverish attack to
begin with, which passed off, and seemed of no importance, but it had
left him in a state of nervous weakness and prostration, at which Dr
Hunt looked grave. Mr Goodwin must have been over-exerting himself for
some time past, he declared, and this breakdown was the result. It
would probably be some time before he could do any work. Perfect rest,
and freedom from all care and agitation, were the only remedies.

"Don't let him know, Delia," he said to his daughter as he left the
house, "that he's likely to be laid up long. Keep him as quiet and
cheerful as possible. I'll send a line to Mrs Forrest, and let her
know that his grandchild may be with him as much as she likes."

Delia prepared to spend the rest of the day with her old friend, and
having persuaded him to lie down on the hard little couch, and made him
as comfortable as she could with pillows, she sat down in the window
with her sewing. From here she could watch the little gate, and prevent
any one from entering too sudden