cab came to the door the parting was hurried through, and, almost before
she had time to realise that she was really going, Ella found herself
halfway to the station.

The railway journey was a long and troublesome one, involving several
changes. Before midday Ella had recovered her spirits and her appetite,
and acted on Kate's advice. "Do not wait for father to suggest lunch,"
she had said; "you may be sure he will not begin to feel hungry till you
are quite ravenous." Remembering this, Ella laughed to herself at Mr.
Hastings's surprise when she suggested that she was ready for her lunch,
and proceeded to unpack her stores.

"This is the first course, I suppose," she said, as she produced two
neat white-paper packages, each with the name of the contents written on
it. "This one contains potted meat sandwiches, and these are chicken.
They look very nice, too. These sprigs of watercress between the
sandwiches are a great improvement."

"Yes, I must confess they are very good ones," assented Mr. Hastings,
after trying one of each kind. "I think someone must have been giving
the cook a lecture on the art of cutting them. Home-made sandwiches have
generally too much butter, so that they are too rich to eat, and the
paper they are wrapped in is greasy and disagreeable; but these have
just the right quantity, and they are made with suitable bread--not, as
I have often had them, of spongy bread, full of holes, through which the
butter and meat oozes on to one's fingers."

In addition to these there were, for Ella's benefit, a few sandwiches
made with damson jam, from which the stones had been extracted. The next
course consisted of some small cakes and a few ripe pears. By way of