she would endure the unpleasantness for his sake. He blessed her in
anticipation.

Alice received the letter summoning her on Monday morning. Richard
himself was expected in Highbury; expected, too, at a sad little
house in Hoxton; for he had constantly promised to spend Christmas
with his friends. The present letter did not say that he would not
come, only that he wanted his sister immediately. She was to bring
her best dress for wear when she arrived. He told her the train she
was to take on Tuesday morning.

The summons filled Alice with delight. Wanley, whence had come the
marvellous fortune, was in her imagination a land flowing with milk
and honey. Moreover, this would be her first experience of travel;
as yet she had never been farther out of London than to Epping
Forest. The injunction to bring her best dress excited visions of
polite company. All through Monday she practised ways of walking, of
eating, of speaking.

'What can he want you for?' asked Mrs. Mutimer gloomily. 'I sh'd 'a
thought he might 'a taken you with him after Christmas. It looks as
if he wasn't coming.'

The old woman had been habitually gloomy of late. The reply she had
received to her letter was not at all what she wanted; it increased
her impatience; she had read it endless times, trying to get at the
very meaning of it. Christmas must bring an end to this wretched
state of things; at Christmas Dick would come to London and marry
Emma; no doubt he had that time in view. Fears which she would not
consciously admit were hovering about her night and day. She had