When they were gone and the door had closed after them, she looked at the girl accusingly.
"Something has happened," she said, in a low tone not to attract Charlotte.
"Don't be cross with me about the hat," said the girl, nestling up close to her again. "I just love it—much better even than I did in the store."
Miss Mehitable put an arm around her, not because at the moment she loved her, but because she was there.
"I wonder," she said, "if there's anything in this world that can make anything but a fool out of a girl before it's too late. I know you're just as crazy about him as he is about you! If you wasn't, would you have been snivellin' around because he might get hurt to the farm? And yet jest 'cause o' your silly, foolish pride you've gone and refused him. It's as plain as the nose on his splendid face. As if in the long run it mattered if Mrs. Barry was a little cantankerous. She's run everything around here so long that she forgets her boy's a man with a mind of his own. It's awful narrow of you, Geraldine, awful narrow!"
Upon this the girl lifted her head and smiled faintly into the accusing face.
"Won't it be nice to have Pete help us move," she said innocently.
Miss Upton's lips tightened. She dropped her arm, moved away, and put the droopy hat back in its box.
"You're heartless!" she exclaimed. There was such a peachy bloom on the girl's face. "I won't waste my breath."
"I love you," said Geraldine, meekly and defensively.