g
to get skates and have some fun as soon as ever the frost comes.'

I said it half jokingly, but still I was ready to be cross too. I had
not improved in some ways since I was ill. I was less thoughtful for
grandmamma and quite annoyed if she did not do exactly what I wanted, or
if she seemed interested in anything but me. In short, I was very
spoilt.

She did not answer me about the skates, for at that moment Kezia brought
in the letters. It was not by any means every morning that we got any,
and it was always rather an excitement when we saw the postman turning
up our path.

That morning there were two letters. One was for me from Sharley. I knew
at once it was from her by the foreign stamp and the thin paper
envelope, even before I looked at the writing. I was so pleased that I
rushed off with it to my favourite window-seat, without noticing
grandmamma, who had quietly taken her own letter from the little tray
Kezia handed it to her on and was examining it in a half-puzzled way. I
remembered afterwards catching a glimpse of the expression on her face,
but at the moment I gave no thought to it.

There was nothing _very_ particular in Sharley's letter. It was very
affectionate--full of longings to be coming home again, even though she
allowed that their present life was very bright and interesting. I was
just laughing at a description of Pert and Quick going to market on
their own account, and how they bargained with the old peasant women,
when a slight sound--_was_ it a sound or only a sort of feeling in the
air?--made me look up from the open sheet before me, and glance over at
grandmamma.

For a moment I felt quite frightened. She was leaning back in her chair,
looking very white, and I could almost have thought she was fainting,
except that her lips were moving as if she were speaking softly to
herself.

I flew across the room to her.

'Granny,' I said, '_dear_ granny, what is it? Are you ill--is anything
the matter?'

Just at first, I think, I forgot about the letter lying on her lap--but
before she spoke she touched it with her fingers.

'I am only a little startled, dear child,' she said, 'startled and----'
I could not catch the other word she said, she spoke it so softly, but I
think it was 'thankful.' 'No, there is nothing wrong, but you will
understand my feeling rather upset when I tell you that this letter is
from Cosmo--you know whom I mean, Helena, Cosmo Vandeleur, my nephew,
who has not wri