Alwynne was, to do her justice, extremely fond of her aunt. Till the advent of Clare Hartill, Elsbeth had been the pole-star of her world. All the more disconcerting of Elsbeth, receiver of confidences, therefore, to be so entirely uninterested in the comet that was deflecting Alwynne from her accustomed orbit.
She wondered occasionally what her aunt's history had been. Elsbeth was reticent: never a woman of reminiscences. Her relations were distant ones, whom she rarely mentioned and apparently more rarely missed. Alwynne was the more surprised one breakfast, when, retailing the school's latest scandal, she was interrupted by an exclamation of pleasure.
"Alwynne! The Lumsdens are coming back!" Elsbeth rustled foreign paper delightedly.
"The Lumsdens? Oh--those cousins of yours?"
"Yes. The youngest, Rosemary, only died last year. Don't you remember? They've lived abroad for years on account of her health, and her son Roger always went out to her for his holidays."
"Roger? Is that the velveteen boy in the big album?"
"He must be thirty by now. The estate went to him. It was let, you know, and the Great House at Dene--to a school, I believe. They had lost money. And Rosemary was always extravagant. Roger went to America for a time. But still he's well enough off. He came home when his mother died last year, and now, it seems, he's taken a house close to their old home, and settled down as a market-gardener. The Lumsdens are to come and keep house for him. He's very fond of his aunts, I know. Well! To think of seeing Jean and Alicia again after all these years. They want us to come and stay when they've settled down."
"You'll enjoy that?" Alwynne eyed her aunt curiously. Elsbeth's pale cheeks were pink, her faded eyes dreamy. Her unconscious hand was rapping out its tune upon the tablecloth--the only symptom of excitement that Elsbeth ever showed. "Were you fond of them? Why haven't you ever been to see them, Elsbeth?"
"Time flies. And I certainly can't afford to gad about the Riviera. And there was you, you know. Besides----" she hesitated.
"You'll like Dene, Alwynne. Oh, yes, I know it well. I used to stay with them--before the Great House was let. Years ago. And Roger--I hope you'll get on with Roger. I haven't seen him since he was five. A jolly little fellow. And from what Alicia says----"