"She has spoiled his life," said Mrs. Brace.
"She has broken his heart," said Mattie.
Then they seemed to remember that all their sympathy was given to Earle, and they had not thought of being sorry for themselves.
Mattie had lost, as she believed, her sister, yet her thoughts were all for Earle.
The three sat in silence. It was Mark who broke it first:
"So, after all, it was to Earle and to us she was writing," he said, "and not to her school-fellows. I wish I had gone in the room and looked over her shoulder; I should have known, then, what she was doing."
"It would not have prevented it," said Mrs. Brace. "Doris has always had her own way, no matter who suffered by it; if she had not gone now, she would have gone another time."
Then Mark looked up with a puzzled face.
"She has seen no one, to my knowledge," he said, "since she left school. How did she manage, I wonder, to get this situation?"
The solution of that problem occupied the remainder of the evening. They could not imagine how she had contrived it. To them it was another proof of her indomitable will, proving that she would accomplish her ends, no matter what they were, or at what cost.