"Anna?" she asked rather nervously, "do you know
what is going to happen tomorrow?"
Anna nodded, and Mrs. Otway went on, almost as
if speaking to herself rather than to the woman who
was now watching her with strangely conflicting feelings:
"It seems the only thing to do. I could not bear
for him to go and live alone -- even for only a short
time -- in that big house where he left his mother. But
it was all settled very hurriedly, partly by telephone to
the Deanery." She paused, for what she felt to be the
hardest part of her task lay before her, and before she
could go on, Anna spoke.
"I think," she said slowly, "I think, dear honoured
lady, that it will be best for me to go to Germany, to
stay with Minna and Willi till the War is over."
Mrs. Otway's eyes filled with tears, yet she felt as if
a load of real anxiety had suddenly been lifted from
her heart.
"Perhaps that will be best," she said. "But of course
there is no hurry about it. There will be certain formalities
to go through, and meanwhile----" Again
she stopped speaking for a moment, then went on
steadily: "A friend of Major Guthrie's -- one of his
brother officers who has just come home from the
Front -- is also to be married tomorrow. His name is
Captain Pechell, and the lady also is known to Major
Guthrie; her name is Miss Trepell. I have arranged
to let the Trellis House to them for six weeks, and I
have to tell you, Anna, that they will bring their own
servants. Before I knew of this new plan of yours, I
arranged for you to go to Miss Forsyth while this
house is let. However, the matter will now be very
much simpler to arrange, and you will only stay with
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