“And you can wear your moccasins these hot days,” continued Rose, “and you will look very nice indeed.”
Anne was soon dressed in the neat clothing, and, with her hair brushed and smoothly braided, she looked like quite a different child from the little girl who had journeyed with Nakanit.
“I am glad to look nice to go to Boston,” Anne said soberly, as they went down the stairs.
“Oh, dear!” thought the older girl; “how can I tell the poor child that I am almost sure that father will find a way to send her safely back to Province Town?”
Rose’s father and uncle spoke kindly to Anne as she came into the sitting-room, and Aunt Hetty’s skirts rustled briskly as she moved about the room, and then she went out in the shed and came back with a round, low basket in which lay two black kittens, which she placed in Anne’s lap saying: “There, little girls and little kittens always like each other; so you can have Pert and Prim for your own while you stay with us.”
“Oh, thank you,” said Anne delightedly, for the two little kittens began to purr happily as she smoothed their soft fur.
Rose found an opportunity to tell her father all about Anne’s reason for running away.
“She did not know why her Aunt Martha shut her up,” pleaded Rose.
But Mr. Freeman shook his head soberly. “We’ll have to send her home by the first chance to Province Town,” he answered, and Rose went back to her little friend feeling that all her pleasant plans for Anne’s visit must come to an end.
“But she shall have a good time here in Brewster,” resolved the girl.