"Well, the other plan seems best to me. But after she has tried it a year, if she doesn't like it she shall be at liberty to come back to Hope."
"That's fair, I'm sure. Thank you, ma'am. And I don't just know what to say, only that I think it's mighty generous of you, though she's welcome to my home and all I have. I've never grudged her a penny."
"I am sure of that. Will you explain the matter to your wife? The agreement will come next week. And at the last I shall take her to New York to be fitted out with clothes. If there is any point you do not quite understand I shall be very willing to explain."
He rose in a dazed kind of fashion, and made an awkward bow, then went round to the kitchen end, where Helen had been sorting over blackberries.
"Oh, my child," he cried with a new tenderness. "I can't bear to think of your going away!"
Helen gave a long, sighing breath, then smiled.
"Miss Gage is to be taken to Europe, and her folks are willing," she subjoined.
"And this place isn't so far away. You can write and come home in vacation."
Then he would consent. She felt relieved that there was to be no argument.
"What do you think Aunt Jane will say?" she inquired, clasping his arm.