Esther was much better the next morning, but she was not well enough to come down-stairs for several days, and when her father appeared he agreed with Mrs. Carew that the little girl was not fit to undertake the journey on horseback along the rough trail to Brandon.
Mrs. Carew was able to assure him, however, that he need not be anxious about his little daughter, and he decided to go directly home, leaving Esther to regain health and strength in Mrs. Carew’s charge.
“I will come for you the first Monday in October, three weeks from to-day,” he told Esther, “and you must mind Mrs. Carew in everything she bids you.”
Esther promised tearfully. She did not want to stay, but she resolved to herself, as she watched her father ride away, that she would do everything possible to please Mrs. Carew and make friends with Faith. She could hardly bear to think of the first day of her visit.
As she lay on the settle comfortably bolstered up with the soft pillows, and a little fire crackling on the hearth, Esther looked about the sitting-room and began to think it a very pleasant place. Faith brought all her treasures to entertain her little visitor. Chief of these was a fine book called “Pilgrim’s Progress,” with many pictures. There was a doll,—one that Faith’s Aunt Priscilla had brought her from New York. This doll was a very wonderful creature. She wore a blue flounced satin dress, and the dress had real buttons, buttons of gilt; and the doll wore a beautiful bonnet.
Faith watched Esther a little anxiously as she allowed her to take Lady Amy, as the doll was named. But Esther was as careful as Faith herself, and declared that she did not believe any little girl that side of Bennington had such a beautiful doll.
“I think your Aunt Priscilla is the best aunt that ever was. She gave you this lovely doll, and your blue beads——” Esther stopped suddenly. She had lost the beads, and she did not want to tell Faith. She had resolved to hunt for them as soon as possible, and give them back. She was sure she could find them when she could run about again.
Faith did not look at Esther. She wished Esther had not reminded her of the beads. But Esther had been so grateful for everything that Mrs. Carew and Faith did for her that they had almost forgotten her mischief, and were beginning to like their little visitor.
“Yes, my Aunt Prissy is lovely,” said Faith. “She is a young aunt. Her hair is yellow and her eyes are blue; she can run as fast as I can,” and Faith smiled, remembering the good times she always had when Aunt Prissy came for a visit to the log cabin. “When I go to visit her I shall see the fort where the English soldiers are,” she added.
“Colonel Ethan Allen could take the fort away from them if he wanted to; my father said so,” boasted Esther; and Faith was quite ready to agree to this, for it seemed to her that the tall, dark-eyed colonel could accomplish almost anything.