“Only think, she lives in the cabin where you planted the pansies,” her husband returned as he raised his long length from the bank where they had been sitting.
“Oh, did you plant them?” asked Beatrice. “I believe they were what made me love the place the first time I saw it.”
“Yes, it was I that put them there. We had been over to see Hester and I had bought a basketful of the plants in Ely, though the doctor laughed at me and said I had no room for them in the crowded garden. He was quite right, so, when Hester and I took a walk while he was talking business with John, we happened to go by the cabin and it looked so lonely that I just stopped and we planted the pansies by the steps. I am glad they are growing. And now you must come in for you need sleep, I know. As I say, the doctor loves to talk of his trees but I feel sure he has told you everything.”
“All but one thing,” Dr. Minturn said as he tucked Miriam’s arm under his and turned toward the house. “That is, that Christmas-tree Hill is to belong to Hester some day when you and I can’t enjoy it any more.”
CHAPTER VI
OLAF
Sped by the kindly farewells of Miriam, Beatrice and Dr. Minturn set out next day on their return ride across the pass and reached the cabin without undue adventure. During the doctor’s long interview with Aunt Anna, the two girls sat beside the fire, holding each other’s hands tightly, neither speaking a word to voice her hopes or fears. When the doctor came out, however, one glimpse of his smiling face was enough to cheer them both.
“Nothing seriously wrong,” was his verdict, “and you have brought her to just the climate and just the sort of life to make her well.” He gave them long and careful directions as to what they were to do and then got up to say good-by. “I am going over to John Herrick’s to spend the night, and I will see you again before I go back.”
He visited the village also before his departure, for he seemed interested in the progress of the trouble there. He had a long talk with Nancy and Beatrice out under the pines beside the stream the next morning.
“Your aunt will get well,” he assured them. “She is anxious and unhappy and troubled, besides her illness. You say that you don’t understand why, but in time she may tell you.”
“Did she tell you?” Nancy asked him suddenly for he was the sort of person to invite confidences.