“May be I shall never go away,” Fan made answer slowly. “Perhaps I shall be the old maid sister instead of Rose.”
Mamma laughed and said she should not mind.
But we could all understand that Richard Fairlie was considered a most eligible young man. Allie West and Sue Barstow were very cordial with him. He was asked to tea as he could not join the gay little neighborhood parties, and the mothers took a great interest in him.
CHAPTER XIII.
Merry Christmas had come and gone with its ordinary festivities and gifts. Ours had been unusually bright, and we were all well and happy. Only one thing troubled papa and that was the boys.
Louis had spent nearly two months traveling around and then going straight to Wilburton. He was pleasantly situated he wrote, quite well, and had taken up his studies. Papa answered, giving him some friendly counsel, but we had heard nothing since. Stuart had sent two chatty epistles. Stephen was expected home every week.
“I feel as if I ought to have gone to Wilburton and looked after him;” papa would say anxiously.
“You have been so very busy all the time with your duties here;” mamma would reply reassuringly. “And Louis is one of those quietly persistent young men who take their own way and learn, if they ever do, from experience.”
I doubt if it would have made any difference in what occurred. Fan used to say that we had gentle showers of misfortune and rains of adversity, and this must have been both combined. The letter came from Stuart with the bad news, which shocked us beyond description.