_This_ is what I get this morning! Pig!
Well, I sha'n't be in if he does come. I can just see him pulling
himself together once temptation (it makes me think of Malcolm!) is out
of his way; he no doubt feels he has had an escape, as I am nobody very
grand.
The letters come early here, as everywhere, but in a bag which only Mr.
Montgomerie can open, and one has to wait until every one is seated at
breakfast before he produces the key and deals them all out.
Mr. Carruthers's was the only one for me, and it had "Branches" on the
envelope, which attracted Mr. Montgomerie's attention, and he began to
"burrrr," and hardly gave me time to read it before he commenced to ask
questions apropos of the place, to get me to say what the letter was
about. He is a curious man.
"Carruthers is a capital fellow, they tell me--er. You had better ask
him over quietly, Katherine, if he is all alone at Branches"--this with
one eye on me in a questioning way.