a sleepy attitude.

'We have now been here three months, and after the satisfactory evening
we had with our accounts, Agatha, last week, we have come to the
conclusion that we can live here well within our income. This being
the case, and all anxiety for the future----'

'You're talking like a book,' interrupted Elfie saucily; 'don't purse
up your mouth so, and look so superior, and like Cousin James.'

'Very well, then, I will come to the point at once. I mean to go out
to California and pay Walter a visit, and I want to sail before the end
of this month.'

There was a dead silence. Then Agatha said a little drily, 'And you
will want your 100 pounds to do that, of course?'

'No, I don't.' Gwen's tone was a little sharp. 'I have some in hand
from my writing. I can see from your faces that you don't approve, but
I've had it in my mind for a long time, only I have waited to see how
things would go. Cousin Jacob's treachery was a bitter blow, as I was
afraid you would want me at home to look after you all----'

'We're not the poor fools you think us,' put in Clare indignantly.

Gwen went on as if she had not heard her: 'And now I have got the
garden into such excellent condition, and you are all shaking down and
finding friends and occupations for yourselves--Agatha, the vicar and
the villagers; Clare, her sweet Miss Villars; and Elfie, divided
between the church organ and her music at home--I shall not be needed
or missed. I don't mean to be away for years, but I am sure from
Walter's letters that he is not doing as well as he should. He wants
shaking up, perhaps starting in a new groove; and, honestly, I want to
see life in the Colonies. It will do me good, and I hope I shall do
him good. I may be back in six months' time. That is my idea--to pay
him a visit, and then come back to you here.'

'I suppose we should all like to visit him,' said Clare crossly. 'Why
shouldn't one of us go, and you stay at home? I am sure a winter here
will finish me.'

Walter seems such a stranger to us,' said Elfie, 'that I wonder if he
will like it. He was always at a boarding-school, and we only saw him
for the holidays, and then he went abroad directly he left school. I
hardly know anything about him. Has he any idea you are going, Gwen?

'I will write by the next mail and tell him. I know him a little
better than you do, Elfie, for you were but a child when he left
England. He has often said how he would li