Laura's voice suddenly broke.

Rosamund presently came downstairs. She wanted to find the Professor.
She wanted she knew not what. As a matter of fact, he was not to be
found, for he had gone by the very earliest train to Dartford to see Mr.
and Mrs. Brett.

The upshot of this visit was that soon Mrs. Brett's large, pale face,
with its light-blue eyes and gentle smile, was seen passing the window.
The Professor was with her. All the girls rushed out with a sudden
sense of relief to greet her.

"Oh, Aunt Susan, we are so glad you have come!" said Lucy, her own
little face quivering with sudden emotion.

"My dear, dear children," said Mrs. Brett, "I have come to take you away
with me--that is, all of you who can come. My husband and I are a
childless couple, and we have plenty of room in our house. You must just
pack your things and come along. That is what I have come for. There is
a nurse coming to look after the poor girl who is so dreadfully
ill.--Lucy, dear, your father is particularly anxious that you should
come--yes, and all the rest of you, for that matter. I can squeeze you
all in; but I cannot manage the governesses, that is the only thing. All
the rest--every single one of you--must come. Rosamund, you, of course;
and, Laura, you also. Annie Millar--yes, certainly--and Phyllis Flower,
and Agnes Sparkes--every single one of you shall come back with me. It
will be Poverty Castle, my loves, and we'll have to stint and scrape and
contrive; but at any rate we'll be merry when we can be merry, and we'll
forget our troubles in doing good to others."

Nothing could exceed the heartiness of Mrs. Brett's manner. Her very
smile brought sunshine with it, and her firm voice confidence. It seemed
in a minute to those agitated and unhappy girls that a ray of sunlight
had fallen upon them, and that the world was not quite so miserable
after all.

They were still standing talking eagerly in the hall when a fly drew up
at the door and Dr. Marshall stepped out. He had, in fact, followed Mrs.
Brett and the Professor up from the station. He saw Rosamund, and
recognized her as the girl he had seen some hours before walking alone
along the high-road. He went up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you one of the young ladies who live here?"

"Yes," she replied, glancing at him in surprise, for so lost had she
been in her own thoughts that she had positively hardly observed him
when he swiftly passed her in the