“Do you suppose Mr. Peyton really knew that he had such a short time to live?”
“Yes, I think so. I, too, have had a last word.” And grandma’s face took on a grave look.
“Oh, grandma, have you?”
“Yes, dear; the letter was written just after your visit. I think it is dated that same day. He said that he knew his time was short, and that he wanted you to have what would have been yours if you had really been his grand-daughter. Life was a battle for him in many ways. With all the comforts which his means provided, he still had a strangely sad life, and I am thankful that he is at rest. The things he most desired in this world were never his; many things which might have added to his happiness seemed to slip away from him. He was a great lover of books, yet for years he was not able to use his eyes except for a few moments at a time, two or three times a day, and there were other trials from which he was never free.”
“How little we know,” Persis replied, softly. “I thought him such a fortunate man. What a year of changes it has been. In it Lisa has been away, and has come back engaged; the boys have left us; I have started on my journalistic work; and now this comes. Before that everything went along so uneventfully. I believe the changes have dated from our discovery of Annis.”
But there were more changes to come, which were to involve the entire family. The question of Persis’s college career was first considered, and it was decided that she should make her home with Mrs. Brown and Annis while she was away. Then came a decision to be made regarding Mellicent, who had shot up into a tall girl so suddenly that she had outgrown her strength, and the doctor advised a warmer climate and cessation from study for at least a year. How this question was to be met was determined most delightfully and opportunely for Mellicent by a sudden offer on the part of the college to send Professor Holmes abroad on an archæological expedition which would take him to Greece and Egypt, and there seemed nothing better to be done than for Mrs. Holmes and Mellicent to accompany him.
“Dear! dear!” Persis exclaimed when this was told her. “Just think how my sisters are outdoing me. Here Lisa has been to Japan, and Mellicent is going to Egypt, while I——”
“You are going to college, which is a place neither of us is likely to go,” put in Mellicent, aptly.
“True, and when I get my degree I’ll go abroad; or maybe, Lisa, you will be living in Japan. You know your Richard is likely to be ordered anywhere, and you’ll tag after him, I suppose, so I’ll perhaps be able to visit you in some of the out-of-the-way corners of the world.”
“Yes, that is something to anticipate, but just at present I am wondering what is to be done with me while you are all planning for next winter. It doesn’t seem to occur to any one that I am left out of all these calculations. I believe, after all, I shall have to be married in order to have a home and a protector.”