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Fraulein explained the notes, and expatiated on the Venice of the past and the manners and customs of its inhabitants; but it was Mr Asplin who had the brilliant idea of holding a Shakespeare reading which should make the play live in the imagination of the young people, as no amount of study could do.
Half an hour later the carriage drove up to the door. Mr and Mrs Asplin came into the room to say a few words of farewell, and then left Peggy to see her mother off. There were no words spoken on the way, and so quietly did they move that Robert had no suspicion that anyone was near, as he took off his shoes in the cloak-room opening off the hall.
Peggy flashed a look from one to the other from the silk dress to the serge, from the beautiful weary face to the cheery loving smile and came to the conclusion that, for some mysterious reason, Mrs Asplin was a happier woman than the wife of the great Lord Darcy. The two ladies stopped talking and looked expectantly towards her. "Come in, dear!
Each envelope was of a pale pink tint, with a crest and monogram in white relief; one was addressed to the Misses Asplin, another to Oswald Elliston, and a third to Miss Mariquita Saville. "Invitations!" cried Peggy, with a caper of delight. "Invitations! How scrumptious!"
You'll kill me some, day, or turn me into a jibbering idiot, and then you'll be sorry! Front doors are made to come in by, 'specially especially when visitors are with you!" cried Mellicent severely, and at this Mrs Asplin turned towards Eunice with her sunny, welcoming smile. "You are Miss Rollo, aren't you, dear?
Mrs Asplin and Peggy turned towards each other with distended eyes.
She was lying on a sofa in her bedroom at the Larches, wrapped in her white dressing-gown, and leaning against a nest of pink silk cushions, and, what with a table drawn up by her side laden with grapes and jelly, a pile of Christmas numbers lying close at hand, and the presence of an audience consisting of Rosalind, Lady Darcy, and Mrs Asplin, ready to listen admiringly to her conversation, and to agree enthusiastically with every word she uttered, it did indeed seem as if the position was one which might be endured with fortitude!
The mayor was carried into the house, and could not be moved for days, and the papers were full of `Dr Asplin this, and Dr Asplin that, as if he was the biggest doctor they had! The mayoress seems to have taken a fancy to him too, for she begs him to go to their house as often as he likes, without waiting to be asked.
From that time forward Mr Asplin studied Peggy with a special interest, and a few evenings later a conversation took place among the young people which confirmed him in his conclusion as to her possibilities. Lessons were over for the day, and girls and boys were amusing themselves in the drawing-room, while Mr Asplin read the Spectator, and his wife knitted stockings by the fire.
She lay motionless, with her bandaged arms stretched before her, and her face looked so small and white against the pillow that Mrs Asplin trembled to think how little strength was there to fight against the terrible shock and strain.
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