"I am,
"Your true, if unsettling, friend,

"X.

"P.S.--You will find a use for the enclosed key sooner or later, and if you
want to write to me, address the letter to 'X., care of Smithurst and Wynn,
Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.'"

For a while after the letter was finished the Avories were too excited and
thoughtful to speak, while as for the Rotherams and Horace Campbell,
however they may have tried, they could not disguise an expression, if not
exactly of envy, certainly of disappointment. There was no X. in their family.

"May we really go away in it and discover England?" Robert asked.

"I suppose so," said Mrs. Avory.

"Then that makes Sea View all right," said Gregory. "Because this will do
instead."

The poor Rotherams! Sea View had suddenly become tame and almost tiresome.

Mrs. Avory saw their regrets in their faces, and cheered them up by the
remark that the caravan must sometimes be lent to others.

"Oh, yes," said Janet.

"Do you think Dr. Rotheram would let you go? " she asked Mary.