“There are cousins and cousins.”
She shook her head. “No wilds in mine. When do you start?”
“To-morrow, worse luck! What are you going to do?”
She smiled tantalizingly. “I have made plans.” True, she had made plans. The fact that the second party to the transaction was not yet aware of their existence did not alter the fact that she had made them. Then she devoted herself to the despondent Stannard, and sent him away cheered almost to the point of thinking, when he left the house, that Vermont was not quite off the map.
Not so Elizabeth Royce. Bess knew precisely what was on the map, and had Vermont been there, she would have noticed it. There was not much, Miss Royce secretly flattered herself, that escaped her. She had heard of Mr. Robert Cameron; but whether he resided in Kamchatka or Timbuctoo she could not have told you. 19 Mr. Robert Cameron, she had adduced with an acumen beyond her years, was the unsuccessful member of a highly successful family. And now Elliott, adorable Elliott, was to be marooned in this uncharted district for a whole year. It was unthinkable!
“But, Elliott darling, you’d die in Vermont!”
“Oh, no!” said Elliott; “I don’t think I should find it pleasant, but I shouldn’t die.”
“Pleasant!” sniffed Miss Royce. “I should say not.”
“It is rather far away from everybody. Think of not seeing you for a year, Bess!”