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"Uncle," she told him gently, "I am sorry I cannot go to the lecture—I shall be busy packing."

"Packing?" Benjamin Stone repeated, his eyebrows more than ever contracted. "Explain yourself."

"Philip and I, and Matthew too, I believe," she said, "have made up our minds to leave Norchester. I speak for Philip and myself. Matthew knows his own mind. We are very grateful to you for having supported us all these years, but the time has come when we cannot live here any longer. We are both unhappy."

"Why?" Benjamin Stone demanded.

"Because we both want things in life which Norchester cannot give us," Rosina went on. "It is very difficult to explain, uncle, and I am not good at explaining, but our minds are quite made up. We want to live somewhere and work somewhere, where for part of the time, at any rate, we can breathe the atmosphere which comes from being surrounded with beautiful things."

"In what part of the world, may I ask, do you intend to search for this atmosphere?" Benjamin Stone enquired, unmoved.