It was really settled in that minute, 221 though Father Bob and Mother Jess talked it over again by themselves.
“Are you sure, dear, you want to do this?” Mother Jess asked Elliott.
“Perfectly sure,” the girl answered. She felt excited and confident, as though she could do anything.
“It won’t be easy.”
“I know that. But please let me try.”
“And there are the Gordons,” said Mother Jess, half to herself.
“Yes,” echoed Elliott, “there are the Gordons.”
When the little car ran up to the door to take the two over to Upton and Mother Jess and Laura were saying good-by, Laura strained Elliott tight. “I’ll love you forever for this,” she whispered.
Then they were off and with them seemed to have gone something indispensable to the well-being of the people who lived in the white house at the end of the road. Elliott, watching the car vanish 222 around a turn in the road, hugged Laura’s words tight to her heart. It was the only way to keep her knees from wabbling at the thought of what was before her.