Lucy had forgotten all about them, and her cousin mentally set her down as "green," while she nervously searched for them.
"Take your time," he said good-humouredly.
They were found at last, and everything being collected, Lucy and her cousin were soon driving away from the station.
"You are cousin Edwin, I suppose?" Lucy ventured to say timidly.
"The same, at your service. I suppose Stella posted you up about us all? You've never been in a place as big as this, have you?" he said, observing her eager, watching look.
"No, never; Ashleigh is hardly more than a village. How is Stella?"
"Stella! Oh, she's quite well; she was out walking when I left."
Lucy's heart sank at the apparent coldness of her reception. Had Stella been coming to visit her, she would have been watching for the steamboat for an hour before its arrival!
"Left all well at home?" inquired Edwin. "Oh, I forgot; I suppose you're all broken up there now?" he added, glancing at her black dress and crape veil. "Fred's gone to college again, I suppose?"
"Yes," replied Lucy. She could not have added a word more. It was all she could do to keep back the tears that started to her eyes, as the sad realization that she had no longer a home came back to her. Edwin, however, had happily exhausted his stock of conversation for the present, and Lucy did not try to renew it.