Page 156 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

CHAPTER V. SYLVIA.

Well,’ said Frere, as they went in, ‘you’ll be out of it soon.
‘You can get all ready to start by the end of the month, and
I’ll bring on Mrs. Vickers afterwards.’
‘What is that you say about me?’ asked the sprightly Mrs.
Vickers from within. ‘You wicked men, leaving me alone all
this time!’
‘Mr. Frere has kindly offered to bring you and Sylvia after
us in the Osprey. I shall, of course, have to take the Lady-
bird.’
‘You are most kind, Mr. Frere, really you are,’ says Mrs.
Vickers, a recollection of her flirtation with a certain young
lieutenant, six years before, tinging her cheeks. ‘It is really
most considerate of you. Won’t it be nice, Sylvia, to go with
Mr. Frere and mamma to Hobart Town?’
‘Mr. Frere,’ says Sylvia, coming from out a corner of the
room, ‘I am very sorry for what I said just now. Will you
forgive me?’
She asked the question in such a prim, old-fashioned way,
standing in front of him, with her golden locks streaming
over her shoulders, and her hands clasped on her black silk
apron (Julia Vickers had her own notions about dressing
her daughter), that Frere was again inclined to laugh.
‘Of course I’ll forgive you, my dear,’ he said. ‘You didn’t
mean it, I know.’

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