Margot thrust her head out of the window, forgetful of cold and fatigue.
What joy to think of waking up every morning for a month to a scene
like this! Thirty mornings, and on every one of them the sun would
shine, and the air blow clear and sweet. She would put on her thick,
nailed boots, and clamber up the glen, to see what lay at the other side
of the pass; she would take her sketching materials, and sit on that
sunny knoll, trying to make some sort of a picture to send home to the
poor father in his smoky prison-house. On hot days she would wade in
the cool grey tarn...
The little maid was knocking at the door, and announcing that tea was
ready, while Margot was still weaving her rose-coloured dreams. It was
a cold douche in more ways than one, to return to the depressing
atmosphere of the dining-room, but the meal itself was tempting and
plentiful. Scones and toast, eggs and strawberry-jam, besides the solid
flank of ham, and, better than all, plenty of delicious cream and fresh
butter.
Margot poured out tea for herself and Ron, and, taking the hot-water-jug
on her knee, warmed her numbed hands on it as she ate. For the first
five or ten minutes no time was wasted in talking; then, the first pangs
of hunger being appeased, the two young people began to compare
impressions.
"Do you suppose this is the only sitting-room? Do you suppose we shall
have to sit here in the evenings and when it rains? Fancy a long wet
day, Ron, shining on horsehair chairs, with your feet on an oil-clothed
floor, gazing at funeral cards! I should go to bed!"
"It wouldn't be a bad idea. Rest cure, you know! If we are very
energetic in fine weather, we may be glad of a rest; but there is
another room. I caught sight of a sanctuary filled with woollen mats
and wax flowers, with a real live piano in the corner. `The best
parlour,' I should say, and the pride of Mrs McNab's heart. I don't
know if she will allow you to enter."
"She will; but she won't have a fire. It has been spring-cleaned, and
has a waterfall of green paper in the grate--I can see it all!" Margot
declared, with a shudder. She hugged the hot-water-jug still closer,
and shivered expressively. "I shall be obliged to raid the kitchen--
there's nothing else for it!"
"You daren't!"
Margot laughed derisively, but her answer was checked by the sudden
appearance of a man's figure pacing slowly past the window. Brother and
sister sprang from their chairs, with a simultaneous impulse, rushed
across the room, and crouched behind the moreen curtains. "Is it?" they
queried breathlessly of each other--"Mr Elgood? Can it be?"