Page:The Yellow Book - 08.djvu/224

"Is it so bad as that, then? Never mind, I can bear a good deal. What is it—Susan, Jemima, Emmelina?"

There was a little pause, and then she nodded at the pale blue sky above and said "Jean" in a hurried whisper. And he was less exigent than she had been, for he did not ask for any more.

When he left her on her own doorstep she lingered for a moment in the sunlight before she went in to Nancy.

"And he really is coming to see me to-morrow," she said out loud with a joyous laugh; "I wonder, shall I tell Nancy or not?" After mature consideration she decided not to tell Nancy, though if Nancy had been less unsuspicious she would certainly have noticed something unusual in the manner of her practical little eldest sister, when she started for Berners Street on the following morning, and twice repeated that she would be back to tea should any one call and ask for her.

"Nobody is likely to ask for you," said Nancy with sisterly frankness, "nobody ever does. You needn't bother to be back to tea unless you like," she added with a self-conscious smile. "Jimmy said he might look in."

"So much the better," thought Jean; "I can bring in a cake without exciting suspicion." And she started gaily on her way, and wondered ingenuously why all the people in the street seemed so indifferent to her happiness. At Berners Street, a shock was awaiting her. Would Miss Moreen kindly stay till five to-day as the children's mother was obliged to go out, and nurse had a holiday? And as the children's mother had already gone out and nurse's holiday had begun before breakfast, there was no appeal left to poor Jean, and she settled down to her day's work with a sense of injustice in her mind and a queer feeling in her throat that had to be overcome during an arithmetic lesson. But as the day wore on her spirits rose to an unnatural pitch; she spent theafternoon