“Miss Minnis is an old cat!” she exclaimed impatiently. Then she laid down the brush, and gathering Georgina’s curls into one hand, turned her head so that she could look into the troubled little face.
“Tell me, Baby,” she demanded. “Have you heard anyone else say things like that?”
“Yes,” admitted Georgina, “several times. And yesterday a woman who came into the bakery while I was getting the rolls Tippy sent me for, asked me if I was Doctor Huntingdon’s little girl. And when I said yes, she asked me when he was coming home.”
“And what did you say?”
“Well, I thought she hadn’t any right to ask, specially in the way she made her question sound. She doesn’t belong in this town, anyhow. She’s only one of the summer boarders. So I drew myself up the way the Duchess always did in ‘The Fortunes of Romney Tower.’ Don’t you remember? and I said, ‘It will probably be some time, Madam.’ Then I took up my bag of hot rolls and marched out. I think that word Madam always sounds so freezing, when you say it the way the Duchess was always doing.”
“Oh, you ridiculous baby!” exclaimed Barby, clasping her close and kissing her again and again. Then seeing the trouble still lingering in the big brown eyes, she took the little face between her hands and looked into it long and intently, as if reading her thoughts.
“Georgina,” she said presently, “I understand now, what is the matter. You’re wondering the same thing about your father that these busybodies are. It’s my fault though. I took it for granted that you understood about his long absence. I never dreamed that it was hurting you in any way.”
Georgina hid her face in Barby’s lap, her silence proof enough that her mother had guessed aright. For a moment or two Barby’s hand strayed caressingly over the bowed head. Then she said:
“I wonder if you remember this old story I used to tell you, beginning, ’St. George of Merry England was the youngest and the bravest of the seven champions of Christendom. Clad in bright armor with his magic sword Ascalon by his side, he used to travel on his war horse in far countries in search of adventure.’ Do you remember that?”
Georgina nodded yes without raising her head.