Read "The Third Miss St Quentin" by Mary Louisa Molesworth online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
This was what Mrs Burton had to tell. On the evening her niece had left Coombesthorpe she had been startled by a telegram from Madelene, inquiring if Ella were with her, to which of course she was obliged to reply in the negative.
"I was not so _very_ frightened as I would have been had I not that very morning got your letter asking me to invite you for a visit. Fortunately Mr Burton was out when the telegram came," she went on, "so I did not need to tell him about it -- it is just as well -- I don't think he need hear more than that you are coming on a visit -- oh, but I am running on without explaining," seeing Ella raise her eyebrows with a look of surprise. "I must tell you that all the next day and the day after, I kept thinking you would walk in, my dear, and when you did not come and there was no letter I began to be really frightened. I was just making up my mind to tell Mr Burton all about it and start for Coombesthorpe when last night to my astonishment there came a message -- "