"How soon do you think we ought to call upon them, Mattie?" he asked, when he was seated opposite to his sister at the luncheon-table. The accounts had not progressed very favorably, and the letter to Grace was not yet commenced. Mattie's news had been a sad interruption to his morning's work.
"Whom do you mean, Archie," she returned, a little bewildered at this abrupt remark; and then, as he frowned at her denseness, she bethought herself of the new people. It was not often Archie asked her advice about anything, but on this occasion the young vicar felt himself incompetent to decide.
"I suppose you mean the new folk at the Friary," she continued, carelessly. "Oh, they are only moving in to-day, and they will be in a muddle for a week, I should think. I don't think we can intrude for ten days or so."
"Not if you think it will be intrusive," he returned, rather anxiously; "but they are strangers in the place, and all ladies--there does not seem to be a man belonging to them--would it not be neighborly, as we live so close, just to call, not in a formal way, you know, but just to volunteer help? There are little things you could do for them, Mattie; and, as a clergyman, they could not regard my visit as an intrusion, I should think. Do you not agree with me?" looking at his sister rather gravely.
"Well, I don't know," replied Mattie, bluntly: "I should not care for strangers prying into my concerns, if I were in their place. And yet, as you say, we are such close neighbors, and one would like to be kind to the poor things, for they must be lonely, settling in a strange new place. I'll tell you what, Archie," as his face fell at this matter-of-fact speech: "it is Thursday, and they will be sure to be at church on Sunday; we shall see them there, and that will be an excuse for us to call on Monday. We can say then that we are neighbors, and that we would not wait until they were all in order. We can offer to send them things from the vicarage, or volunteer help in many little ways. I think that would be best."
"Yes, perhaps you are right, and we will wait until Monday," returned Archie, taking off his soft felt hat. "Now I must go on my rounds, and not waste any more time chattering." But, though he spoke with unusual good nature, he did not invite Mattie to be his companion, and the poor little woman betook herself to the solitary drawing-room and some plain sewing for the rest of the afternoon.