coming,' confessed Jane in the manner of one confessing a sin she was really rather proud of.
'But we did so want to give him a surprise,' pleaded Anne, still quite confident of the welcome that would have awaited her had that nephew been at hand.
'They say great minds think alike,' I said gaily. 'and there you were both thinking of giving one another a surprise at the same time.'
It was a great temptation to ask them when that nephew had left Mehernugger. They had said that he had just started for home. Could that mean two days before they arrived? After he had received my warning telegram? Could leave be obtained in a short space of time like that? I wondered greatly. But evidently the aunts were unsuspicious, and though I was real curious to know if it was my telegram announcing their arrival that had sent their nephew flying straight off home, I forebore. I wouldn't for the world have aroused suspicion in those dear contented minds, so I gave that unknown young man the benefit of the doubt. He had not hurt the feelings of the three old ladies whatever he had done, and that, after all, was the main thing. What does it matter if people hurry down a side street to avoid me when they see me coming if I don't see them do it? It's only when they let me see them in the act that I get annoyed. Ignorance is always bliss, so perhaps, after all, my telegram had opened out a way of escape that had not crossed my mind at the time I sent it off.
I often sat with those dear old ladies watching
