We lost the Fergussons too, although not by
death. They had not long remained at the Hall
after the burial of the hatchet, even though my



ROSE AND ROSE 183

invaluable attendance was theirs once more. They
had become restless and discontented. The Hall
estate had been bought for Ronnie to succeed to ;
and of what use was it now ? Sir Edmund had
nothing to do — his interest in tree-planting and
general improvements disappeared, and he gradually
took a disUke to the place. The result was that
they left for one of the Continental health resorts
— Aix-les-Bains, I think it was. When they
went I decided to take no new patients, and
gradually allowed my practice to pass to others,
and when Mrs. O'Gorman died I retired altogether.
I said sontiething a little while back about Rose
and her ignorance of hfr mother's flight — or, at
any rate, silence regarding it. That was when
she was a child. But later, when she had reached
the teens, references to her mother gradually
came naturally into her conversation, and she
would even ask me about her.
" Tell me about mother, Dombeen," she would
say. '* Was she like me ? Mrs. O'Gorman says
that our voices are just the same."

'" Did you like her better than me ? " She
wanted to know this very badly.
I have no doubt that she had collected other
views as well as mine and had a fairly sound idea
of the situation.
" Of course it was naughty to run away from
father," she began oi^ce, after one of Eustace's



184 ROSE AND ROSE

visits, " but- " Here she broke off with a

suspicion of a chuckle.
