"Do let me have the mug," implored Miss Burgoyne: she was a pretty little brunette with a _nez retrousse_. "I have never drunk out of one since my nursery days. How cool it is, after the sunny roads! I think carpets ought to be abolished in the summer. When I have a house of my own, Evelyn, I mean to have Indian matting and nothing else in the warm weather."
"I am very fond of Indian matting," returned her sister, sipping her tea contentedly. "Fitzroy hoped to have looked in this afternoon, Mrs. Challoner, to say good-bye, but there is an assault-at-arms at the Albert Hall, and he is taking my young brother Algernon to see it. He is quite inconsolable at the thought of losing such pleasant neighbors, and sent all sorts of pretty messages," finished Lady Fitzroy, graciously.
"Here is Edgar," exclaimed Carrie Paine; "he told us that he meant to put in an appearance; but I am afraid the poor boy will find himself _de trop_ among so many ladies."
Edgar was the youngest Paine,--a tall Eton boy, who looked as though he would soon be too big for jackets, and an especial friend of Nan's.
"How good of you to come and say good-bye, Gar!" she said summoning him to her side, as the boy looked round him blushing and half terrified. "What have you got there under your jacket?"
"It is the puppy I promised you," returned Edgar, eagerly; "don't you know?--Nell's puppy? Father said I might have it." And he deposited a fat black retriever puppy at Nan's feet. The little beast made a clumsy rush at her and then rolled over on its back. Nan took it up in high delight, and showed it to her mother.
"Isn't it good of Gar, mother? and when we all wanted a dog so! We have never had a pet since poor old Juno died; and this will be such a splendid fellow when he grows up. Look at his head and curly black paws; and what a dear solemn face he has got!"
"I am glad you like him," replied Edgar, who was now perfectly at his ease. "We have christened him 'Laddie:' he is the handsomest puppy of the lot, and our man Jake says he is perfectly healthy." And then, as Nan cut him some cake, he proceeded to enlighten her on the treatment of this valuable animal.
The arrival of "Laddie" made quite a diversion, and, when the good-byes were all said, Nan took the little animal in her arms and went with Phillis for the last time to gather flowers in the Longmead garden, and when the twilight came on the three girls went slowly through the village, bidding farewell to their old haunts.