e
made no excuse or explanation.

Mrs. Anderton plunged into important matters at once.

"Your father, Mr. Anderton"--how that word "father" jarred upon
Halcyone's sensitive ears!--"wished me to come and see you, dear, and
hopes you will return with me to-morrow to London, for a little visit to
us, that you may make the acquaintance of your brother and sisters."

Halcyone had already made up her mind what to do, before she had left
her room. She would agree to anything they suggested in order to have no
obstacles put in her way--not admitting for a moment that these people
had any authority over her. Then, if in the morning she received a
letter from her Beloved, she would follow its instructions implicitly.
Always having at hand her certain mode of disappearance, she could slip
away, and if it seemed necessary, just leave them to think what they
pleased. Priscilla would be warned to allay at once the anxiety of her
aunts, and for the Andertons she was far too desperate to care what they
might feel.

"Thank you; it is very good of you," she said as graciously as she
could. "My old nurse has told me of your kind invitation, and is already
beginning the preparations. I trust you left Mr. Anderton and my
stepbrother and sisters well?"

"Hoity-toity!" thought Louisa Anderton. "Of the same sort as the old
spinsters. This won't please James, I fear!" But aloud she answered that
the family were all well, and that James Albert, who was thirteen now,
would soon be going to Eton.

Over Halcyone, in spite of her numbness and the tension she was feeling,
though controlled by her firm will, there came the memory of the red,
crying baby, for whose life her own sweet mother had paid so dear a
price. And Mabel and Ethel--noisy, merry little girls!--she had thought
of them so seldom in these latter years--they seemed as far-off shadows
now. But James Anderton and her mother stood out sharp and clear.

The strain and anguish of the day had left her very pale. Mrs. Anderton
thought her plain and most uncomfortably aloof; she really regretted
that she had put into her husband's head the idea of giving this
invitation. He would gladly have left Halcyone alone, but for her kindly
thought. Mabel was just seventeen, and such a handful that her father
had decided she should stay in the schoolroom with her sister for
another year, and Mrs. Anderton had felt it would be a good opportunity
for Halcyone to rejoin the family circle at a time