“It isn’t a bad place to live, but if straws show which way the wind blows she won’t always live there.”
“Do you mean?”
“I mean what I mean. Time will show. From all indications I should say she will live there for some years yet.”
“And I hope all her summers, yours, too, and mine, can be spent up here. You will come next year, won’t you, Miss Rindy? Don’t you like it, and haven’t we had a happy, free time?”
Miss Rindy gave her attention to counting stitches on the knitting she had in hand, then she answered: “You have given us a wonderful time, my dear, but in my experience it isn’t best to expect to repeat one’s good times. Things are seldom twice the same. Something is sure to happen that will alter conditions. In this world the only thing you can count on is change.”
“Well, one thing can be counted upon, and that is my desire to repeat this summer’s experiences.”
“That may be your desire at this moment, but it may not be six months hence. We all may be a thousand miles apart by next year; one can never tell. That vocation you are so fond of talking about may take you to China or—somewhere else,” she added with a chuckle.
Before Mabel could expostulate Ellen came in. She went directly to her cousin, and, opening her letter, laid it before her. “Read that,” she said.
Miss Rindy hastily glanced over it “Why, Ellen! Why, Ellen!” she exclaimed. “What a surprise! I am sorry that dear good man is gone, but I can’t help being glad for you.”
“Mayn’t I come in on the surprise?” asked Mabel eagerly.