They drank their coffee in the veranda outside the drawing-room window. They could hear the trains and the trams in the distance, and it seemed to be a favourite pursuit of the youths of Melbury Park to rattle sticks along the oak fencing of the garden, but otherwise they were shut in in a little oasis of green and could not be seen or overheard by anybody. There were certain things to be said, but no one seemed now to wish to refer to Cicely's escapade, the sharp effect of which had been over-laid by the ordinary intercourse of the luncheon table.
It was Cicely herself who broke the ice. She asked Dick nervously when he was going back to Kencote.
"Oh, to-morrow, I think," said Dick. "Nothing to stay up here for."
Muriel said, "Cicely would like Mrs. Clinton to come up. She doesn't want to ask her in her letter. Will you ask her, Dick?"
Dick hesitated. "Do you want to tell mother--about it?" he asked of Cicely.
"Well, I think you had much better not. It'll only worry her, and she need never know."
"I am going to tell her," said Cicely doggedly.
"I wouldn't mind your telling her, if you want to," said Dick, after a pause, "but it's dangerous. If the governor suspected anything and got it out of her----"
"Oh, she wouldn't tell Mr. Clinton," said Muriel. "I think Cicely is quite right to tell her. Don't you, Walter?"
"I suppose so," said Walter. "But I think it's a risk. I quite agree with Dick. It _must_ be kept from the governor. It's for your own sake, you know, Cicely."
"None of you boys know mother in the least," said Cicely, in some excitement. "She's a woman, and so you think she doesn't count at all. She counts a great deal to me, and I want her."
"All right, my dear," said Walter kindly. "We only want to do what's best for you. Don't upset yourself. And you're all right with Muriel and me, you know."
"You're both awfully kind," said Cicely, more calmly, "and so is Dick now. But I do want mother to come, and I _know_ she wouldn't tell father."
"I know it too," said Muriel. "I will write to her to-night and ask her; only we thought Mr. Clinton might make some objection, and you could get over that, Dick."
"Oh, I'll get over that all right," said Dick. "Very well, she shall come. Do you want me to tell her anything, Cicely, or leave it all to you?"