Thereupon they all departed.
CHAPTER XVIII
IN THE HOUR OF NEED
In the meantime Alva, left alone in her room, felt troubled, vastly troubled, by the sorrow and shame gathering so close to her. The emotions of those near by affect one keenly attuned, in a degree that the less sensitive would hardly believe possible.
She went and locked the door after Lassie left, and going to a chair that happened to stand close to the bureau, sat down there, leaned her face on her hand and thought earnestly of the whole matter.
"Why must I trouble so?" she said to herself, presently; "no one else does," and then she smiled sadly. "It is because I have set my face in that direction," she said; "I have vowed myself to service, just as he has vowed himself, for the love of God and God in humanity."
A light tap on her own door sounded, and she started, crying "Come in," quite forgetting that the door was locked.
Some one tried the door and then Alva sprang up and unfastened it. It opened, and Miss Lathbun stood there in the crack.
"May I come in for a few minutes?" she asked, pale and with frightened eyes.