The two youthful faces confronted each other breathlessly for a moment,
and then simultaneously boy and girl burst into a peal of laughter.
They laughed and laughed again, till the tear-drops shone on Margot's
lashes, and Ronald's pale face was flushed with colour.
"You silly girl! What nonsense you talk! I'm afraid Mr Elgood won't
give me a chance of rescuing him. He won't want to be bothered with
literary aspirants on his summer holiday, and he will guess that I want
his help--"
"He mustn't guess anything of the kind until the end of the time. You
must even never mention the word poetry. It would neither be fair to
him, nor wise for ourselves. What we have to do is to make ourselves so
charming and interesting that at the end of the three weeks he will want
to help us as much as we want to be helped. I understand how to manage
old gentlemen I've had experience, you see, in rather a difficult
school. Poor father! I must run down to comfort him before I go to
bed. I feel sure he is sitting in the library, puffing away at his
pipe, and feeling absolutely retched. He always does after he has been
cross."
Ronald's face hardened with youthful disapproval. "Why should you pity
him? It's his own fault."
"That makes it all the harder, for he has remorse to trouble him, as
well as disappointment. You must not be hard on the pater, Ron.
Remember he has looked forward to having you with him in business ever
since you were born, and it is awfully hard on him to be disappointed
just when he is beginning to feel old and tired, and would be glad of a
son's help. It is not easy to give up the dream of twenty years!"
Ronald felt conscience-stricken. He knew in his own heart that he would
find it next to impossible to relinquish his own dawning ambitions, and
the thought silenced his complaints. He looked at his sister and smiled
his peculiarly sweet smile.
"You have a wide heart, Margot. It can sympathise with both plaintiff
and defendant at the same time."
"Why, of course!" asserted Margot easily. "I love them both, you see,
and that makes things easy. Go to bed, dear boy, and dream of Glenaire!
Your chance is coming at the eleventh hour."
The light flashed in the lad's eyes as he bent his head for the good-
night kiss--a light of hope and expectation, which was his sister's best
reward.
Ron had worked, fretted, and worried of late, and his health itself
might break down under the strain, for his constitution was not strong.
During one long, anxious year there had been fear of lung trouble, and
mental agitation of any kind told quickly upon him. Margot's thoughts
flew longingly to the northern glen where the wind blew fresh and cool
over the heather, with never a taint of smoke and grime to mar its God-
given purity. All that would be medicine indeed, after the year's
confinement in the murky city! Ron would lift up his head again, like a
plant refreshed with dew; body and mind alike would then expand in
jubilant freedom.