Jane was fluttering around in great excitement. “Everyone in Hadsea has sent you cards and presents,” she exclaimed. “Even Mr. Chambers, the butcher, sent a lovely ham with a heart round it made out of the best pork sausages. Such an imaginative touch. Let me see… there is cologne from the chemist, grapes from the greengrocer, and, this gigantic box of chocolates from—why that’s strange. There is no card. Maybe it fell out. It could be from the souvenir shop but they have already sent you a pretty box made of shells.” “How kind they all are,” said Kitty. “I shall write and thank them all.” Jane looked timidly at the chocolates. “Do you think I could have just one before Matilda comes in?” she pleaded. “I have such a sweet tooth. My husband—who was in fact the Earl of Somerset,” she added in a whisper, “always teased me and said I wouldn’t have a tooth in my head by the time I was forty. But I have them all! “Now Matilda says I will get spotty skin even though I haven’t a mark on it.
