"Out spending the day at the O'Sullivans."
"I am glad of that," said Dale, kindly. "Miss O'Sullivan has the brightness our little friend lacks, and will, perhaps, win her confidence, which we have been unable to do."
"That is very true," said Mrs. Gower, who now related the incident of the morning, regarding the couple they had met while out sleigh-driving; at which Mrs. Dale was all eyes and ears, her pretty little face aglow with excitement.
"How strange! and she persisted in seeing them alone! did she seem glad?"
"Oh, yes; for such a quiet, self-contained little creature, very much so."
"And did she tell you nothing on her return?"
"No; she had no opportunity; we had callers, and Miss O'Sullivan was here; but she looked happier, poor, lonely, wee lassie."
"She is likely to remain lonely, too," said Cobbe; "a man does not want to marry a girl as stiff as his beaver, and as prim as its band."
"Poor girl; one cannot expect her to show that careless joy in living our girls show, who have happy homes and ties of kin."
"In my opinion," said Dale, "the women and girls who take life easiest, and seem to feel that the good things of life are their heritage, are the American women."