"But it will be so horrid to have him go away from Old Maxham—so dull."
"Not horrid at all, if it is the right thing for him to do. You are both young enough not to mind waiting. Jack will never make his way in Old Maxham."
"He might, if the shop did as well as it ought," meditated Jessie. "So Mr. Groates says. He says he has no chance against the Mokeses."
"You see Mr. Groates is comparatively new to the place, and the Mokes family has been here for at least three generations. That makes all the difference."
"I shall be so dreadfully dull," sighed Jessie again.
"O no, you will not. You will be brave and sensible, and make the best of things. You and Jack will meet sometimes, and you can write to one another. And you will both work hard, and not spend all you earn in pretty things to wear."
Jessie blushed a little, and said, "No; but I do like pretty things."
"Most people do. But you are not a child any longer, Jessie. You and Jack are thinking of being married some day; and with that before you, you ought to think of the future. You ought to deny yourself now for the sake of by-and-by. It isn't only yourself that you have to think of—nor even only yourself and Jack."
"Jessie!" called Miss Perkins.
Jessie sprang up and ran out of the room, Mildred following; for something in the tone of that cry was unusual.