A week after this, Mrs Saville came to pay her farewell visit before sailing for India. Mother and daughter went out for a walk in the morning, and retired to the drawing-room together for the afternoon. There was much that they wanted to say to each other, yet for the most part they were silent, Peggy sitting with her head on her mother’s shoulder, and Mrs Saville’s arms clasped tightly round her. Every now and then she stroked the smooth brown head, and sometimes Peggy raised her lips and kissed the cheek which leant against her own, but the sentences came at long intervals.

“If I were ill, mother—a long illness—would you come?”

“On wings, darling! As fast as boat and train could bring me.”

“And if you were ill?”

“I should send for you, if it were within the bounds of possibility—I promise that! You must write often, Peggy—long, long letters. Tell me all you do, and feel, and think. You will be almost a woman when we meet again. Don’t grow up a stranger to me, darling.”

“Every week, mother! I’ll write something each day, and then it will be like a diary. I’ll tell you every bit of my life...”

“Be a good girl, Peggy. Do all you can for Mrs Asplin, who is so kind to you. She will give you what money you need, and if at any time you should want more than your ordinary allowance, for presents or any special purpose, just tell her about it, and she will understand. You can have anything in reason; I want you to be happy. Don’t fret, dearie. I shall be with father, and the time will pass. In three years I shall be back again, and then, Peg, then, how happy we shall be! Only three years.”

Peggy shivered, and was silent. Three years seem an endless space when one is young. She shut her eyes, and pondered drearily upon all that would happen before the time of separation was passed. She would be seventeen, nearly eighteen—a young lady who wore dresses down at her ankles, and did up her hair. This was the last time, the very, very last time when she would be a child in her mother’s arms. The new relationship might be nearer, sweeter, but it could never be the same, and the very sound of the words “the last time” sends a pang to the heart.

Half an hour later the carriage drove up to the door. Mr and Mrs Asplin came into the room to say a few words of farewell, and then left Peggy to see her mother off. There were no words spoken on the way, and so quietly did they move that Robert had no suspicion that anyone was near, as he took off his shoes in the cloak-room opening off the hall. He tossed his cap on to a nail, picked up his book, and was just about to sally forth, when the sound of a woman’s voice sent a chill through his veins. The tone of the voice was low, almost a whisper, yet he had never in his life heard anything so thrilling as its intense and yearning tenderness. “Oh, my Peggy!” it said. “My little Peggy!” And then, as in reply, came a low moaning sound, a feeble bleat like that of a little lamb torn from its mother’s side. Robert charged back into the cloak-room, and kicked savagely at the boots and shoes which were scattered about the floor, his lips pressed together, and his brows meeting in a straight black line across his forehead. Another minute, and the carriage rolled away. He peeped out of the door in time to see a little figure fly out into the rain, and walking slowly towards the schoolroom came face to face with Mrs Asplin.

“Gone?” she inquired sadly. “Well, I’m thankful it is over. Poor little dear, where is she? Flown up to her room, I suppose. We’ll leave her alone until tea-time. It will be the truest kindness.”

“Yes,” said Robert vaguely. He was afraid that the good lady would not be so willing to leave Peggy undisturbed if she knew her real whereabouts, and was determined to say nothing to undeceive her. He felt sure that the girl had hidden herself in the summer-house at the bottom of the garden, and a nice, damp, mouldy retreat it would be this afternoon, with the rain driving in through the open window, and the creepers dripping on the walls. Just the place in which to sit and break your heart, and catch rheumatic fever with the greatest possible ease. And yet Robert said no word of warning to Mrs Asplin. He had an inward conviction that if anyone were to go to the rescue, that person should be himself, and that he, more than anyone else, would be able to comfort Peggy in her affliction. He sauntered up and down the hall until the coast was clear, then dashed once more into the cloak-room, took an Inverness coat from a nail, a pair of goloshes from the floor, and sped rapidly down the garden-path. In less than two minutes he had reached the summer-house, and was peeping cautiously in at the door. Yes; he was right. There sat Peggy, with her arms stretched out before her on the rickety table, her shoulders heaving with long, gasping sobs. Her fingers clenched and unclenched themselves spasmodically, and the smooth little head rolled to and fro in an abandonment of grief. Robert stood looking on in silent misery. He had a boy’s natural hatred of tears, and his first impulse was to turn tail, go back to the house, and send someone to take his place; but even as he hesitated he shivered in the chilly damp, and remembered the principal reason of his coming. He stepped forward and dropped the cloak over the bent shoulders, whereupon Peggy started up and turned a scared white face upon him.

“Who, who—Oh! it is you! What do you want?”

“Nothing. I saw you come out, and thought you would be cold. I brought you out my coat.”

“I don’t want it; I am quite warm. I came here to be alone.”

“I know; I’m not going to bother. Mrs Asplin thinks you are in your room, and I didn’t tell her that I’d seen you go out. But it’s damp. If you catch cold, your mother will be sorry.”

Peggy looked at him thoughtfully, and there was a glimmer of gratitude in her poor tear-stained eyes.

“Yes; I p–p–romised to be careful. You are very kind, but I can’t think of anything to-night. I am too miserably wretched.”

“I know; I’ve been through it. I was sent away to a boarding-school when I was a little kid of eight, and I howled myself to sleep every night for weeks. It is worse for you, because you are older, but you will be happy enough in this place when you get settled. Mrs Asplin is a brick, and we have no end of fun. It is ever so much better than being at school; and, I say, you mustn’t mind what Mellicent said the other night. She’s a little muff, always saying the wrong thing. We were only chaffing when we said you were to be our fag. We never really meant to bully you.”

“You c–couldn’t if you t–tried,” stammered Peggy brokenly, but with a flash of her old spirit which delighted her hearer.

“No; of course not. You can stand up for yourself; I know that very well. But look here: I’ll make a compact, if you will. Let us be friends. I’ll stick to you and help you when you need it, and you stick to me. The other girls have their brother to look after them, but if you want anything done, if anyone is cheeky to you, and you want him kicked, for instance, just come to me, and I’ll do it for you. It’s all nonsense about being a fag, but there are lots of things you could do for me if you would, and I’d be awfully grateful. We might be partners, and help one another—”

Robert stopped in some embarrassment, and Peggy stared fixedly at him, her pale face peeping out from the folds of the Inverness coat. She had stopped crying, though the tears still trembled on her eyelashes, and her chin quivered in uncertain fashion. Her eyes dwelt on the broad forehead, the overhanging brows, the square, massive chin, and brightened with a flash of approval.

“You are a nice boy,” she said slowly. “I like you! You don’t really need my help, but you thought it would cheer me to feel that I was wanted. Yes; I’ll be your partner, and I’ll be of real use to you yet. You’ll find that out, Robert Darcy, before you have done with me.”

“All right, so much the better. I hope you will; but you know you can’t expect to have your own way all the time. I’m the senior partner, and you will have to do what I tell you. Now I say it’s damp in this hole, and you ought to come back to the house at once. It’s enough to kill you to sit in this draught.”

“I’d rather like to be killed. I’m tired of life. I shouldn’t mind dying a bit.”

“Humph!” said Robert shortly. “Jolly cheerful news that would be for your poor mother when she arrived at the end of her journey! Don’t be so selfish. Now then, up you get! Come along to the house.”

“I wo—” Peggy began, then suddenly softened, and glanced apologetically into his face. “Yes, I will, because you ask me. Smuggle me up to my room, Robert, and don’t, don’t, if you love me, let Mellicent come near me! I couldn’t stand her chatter to-night!”

“She will have to fight her way over my dead body,” said Robert firmly; and Peggy’s sweet little laugh quavered out on the air.

“Nice boy!” she repeated heartily. “Nice boy; I do like you!”