“But you will keep it for me, won’t you, till Reed wants it? I would be so glad if you would take charge of it.”
“Why not keep it yourself?”
Ellen shook her head. “No, the longer I have it the harder it will be to part with it. I know it will be safe in your hands, and perhaps you will like to play on it sometimes.”
“That I surely will. This Mr. Barstow of whom you speak, is his name Peter, by any chance?”
“It is indeed, and he knows you. He was so glad when I could tell him about you; said he was going to write to you.”
“My old friend, Don Pedro; well, well.”
“Oh, do you call him that? So did Daddy, and I do when I am with him. Reed calls him Uncle Pete. Isn’t it funny that Reed’s father and mine both were what Mr. Barstow calls old cronies, and Reed says I am a cronette and he is a cronine in consequence. He is a very ridiculous person.”
Mr. Todd looked at her thoughtfully. “And you like him very much, this lad?”
“I liked him with a black face; I don’t know how much I should like him with a white one. Probably he will seem quite a different person. I must run along now, or Caro will think I am lost. I shall see you soon again, I hope.”
“We begin our organ lessons again on Saturday, don’t we?”