Jane laughed and popped the pan into the oven. "Come and help lay the table," she said. "Oh, you never saw anything as sweet as Aunt Susan's joy in her own things. She's like a little child at Christmas. It's a kind of coming back to life for her."
"They say that her sister was awfully mean to her."
"But she wasn't at all. She thought that she was sicker than she was, and she kept her in bed, and the joke of it was that Aunt Susan didn't like to hurt her feelings by letting her see what mistaken ideas she had, so she hopped up every time the coast was clear and kept lively and interested trying to be about and in bed at once."
"How perfectly delightful! I never heard anything so funny. And then you came and discovered the truth."
"Well, I didn't want her to stay in bed. I'd never encourage any one in a false belief, but she hadn't the belief,—she had only the false appearance. She didn't enjoy being an invalid one bit."
"I think it's too droll," said Madeleine. "Didn't you laugh when it dawned on you first?"
"It dawned on me rather sadly. But we laugh together now."
"What will she do when her sister comes back?"
"Oh, that will all come out nicely. I don't know just how, but I know that it will come out all right."
"Do you always have faith in things coming out rightly?"