"I want dear Mary to be happy in the manner that's best for her,"
answered the good woman, whose outlook was very wide, though her orbit
was limited, "If it had been best for Mary to stay with us, she would
have stayed; or else some day, when she has learned enough to know that
the world can be disappointing, she will return. If that day ever comes,
she'll have a warm welcome, and it will be a great joy to us all; but
the next best thing will be hearing that she is happy in her new life;
and she promises to write often." Then the clever lady proceeded to ask
advice about Mary's wardrobe. Should the girl do such shopping as she
must do in Aberdeen, or should she wait and trust to the taste of Mrs.
Home-Davis, the widowed aunt in London, who had agreed to take charge of
her?
The question had fired Lady MacMillan to excitement, as Reverend Mother
knew it would. Lady MacMillan believed that she had taste in dress. She
was entirely mistaken in this idea; but that was not the point. Nothing
so entranced her as to give advice, and the picture of an unknown aunt
choosing clothes for Mary was unbearable. She made up her mind at once
that she would escort her young friend to London, and stay long enough
at some quiet hotel in Cromwell Road to see Mary "settled." Mrs.
Home-Davis lived in Cromwell Road; and it was an extra incentive to Lady
MacMillan that she would not be too far from the Oratory.
It was evening when the two arrived at King's Cross Station, after the
longest journey Mary had ever made.
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