"Why, Rob, that is lovely!" she exclaimed, looking up at him, surprised and pleased. "I'm glad you put that clovah on the tree, for every time I look at it, it will remind me of yoah wish, and—"
The letter she had been carrying fluttered to the ground. He stooped to pick it up and return it to her.
"That's the lettah you are to mail for me," she said, giving it back to him. "Don't forget it, for it's impawtant."
The address was uppermost, in her clear, plain hand, and she held it toward him, so that he saw she intended him to read it.
"Hm! Writing to Alex Shelby, are you?" he said, with his usual brotherly frankness, and a sniff that plainly showed his disapproval.
"It's just a note to tell him that I can't ride with him Thursday," she answered, turning away.
"Did you tell him the reason?" he demanded, continuing to dig into the tree.
"Of co'se not! How could I without making Bernice appeah ridiculous?"
"But what will he think of you, if you don't?"
"Oh, I don't know! I've worried ovah it until I'm neahly gray."