“Well, I am very glad to have you here,” said the other. “If mother did not come on that train she won’t come at all, I am sure, for the next ones don’t stop at my aunt’s station, and I should have been here all alone. What is your name?”
“My name is Edna Conway, and I live on the main road just this side of that piece of woods you see after you pass Mrs. MacDonald’s. Hers is the big gray house with the greenhouses, you know.”
“Oh, yes I know it very well. My name is Nettie Black. My mother and I live here just by ourselves since my father died.”
“Oh,” Edna felt very sorry that Nettie was fatherless, but she did not know exactly what to say about it. “Will your mother be worried about your being here alone?” she asked after a moment.
“I s’pose she will, but it can’t be helped. I know she would have come if she could. I only hope my aunt isn’t worse. I wish she could know I am not to be alone.”
“And I wish, my mother knew I was safe,” returned Edna. “I am sure, though, that she thinks I am at my uncle’s in the city, and I hope she does think so.”
“Are you quite warm, now?” asked Nettie. “If you are we will have some supper.”
“Oh, you are very kind,” returned Edna a little embarrassed. “I think it is very hard on you to have me come in this way like a stray cat.”
Nettie laughed. “I like stray cats, and we always take them in. There is a lovely one in the kitchen, now, that we make a great pet of. He came to us so thin and miserable, but now he is as fat as butter.”
“I’d love to see him,” returned Edna, “and won’t you let me help you get supper?”