"How about uncles? Are THEY worth while?" questioned Uncle John.
She lifted her head, and seeing the twinkle in his fine eyes, she smiled through her tears.
"I've only one uncle," she said, "but he's the best one in the world!"
"He's scheming now to find a way to be with you at least a part of each year," was the quick reply.
"Oh, WILL you, CAN you do that?" cried Rose.
"I think so," he said, "and I cannot now tell you just how I shall manage it, but I am quite sure that I can do it, and until I am ready to talk with your Aunt Rose regarding it, you must promise to keep it for a little secret, a pleasant thing to think of when days are a bit dull."
"Oh, I will, I will!" cried Rose. "I won't say a word about it, but I'll think of it every day!"
Her tears had vanished, and when Polly came running in she did not dream that Rose had been crying.
"Only think," said Polly, "I have to say 'Good-bye' twice to-day, for
I'm to leave here, and then I'm to leave Rose's house to go back to
Sherwood Hall!"
"And we both knew that this was the day that Polly was to go home, but last night she got a letter," said Rose, "and her mama says that she's glad she's having such a lovely time, but that Sherwood Hall is so lonely without her, she can't spare her any longer.