Cousin Ann was right behind Aunt Abigail, and she heard this. She looked over their shoulders toward Aunt Frances, who was approaching from behind, and said, in her usual calm and collected voice: “How do you do, Frances? Glad to see you, Frances. How well you’re looking! I hear you are in for congratulations. Who’s the happy man?”
Betsy was overcome with admiration for her coolness in being able to talk so in such an exciting moment. She knew Aunt Abigail couldn’t have done it, for she had sat down in a rocking-chair, and was holding Betsy on her lap. The little girl could see her wrinkled old hand trembling on the arm of the chair.
“I hope that means,” continued Cousin Ann, going as usual straight to the point, “that we can keep Betsy here with us.”
“Oh, would you like to?” asked Aunt Frances, fluttering, as though the idea had never occurred to her before that minute. “Would Elizabeth Ann really like to stay?”
“Oh, I’d like to, all right!” said Betsy, looking confidently up into Aunt Abigail’s face.
Aunt Abigail spoke now. She cleared her throat twice before she could bring out a word. Then she said, “Why, yes, we’d kind of like to keep her. We’ve sort of got used to having her around.”
That’s what she said, but, as you have noticed before on this exciting day, what people said didn’t matter as much as what they looked; and as her old lips pronounced these words so quietly the corners of Aunt Abigail’s mouth were twitching, and she was swallowing hard. She said, impatiently, to Cousin Ann, “Hand me that handkerchief, Ann!” And as she blew her nose, she said, “Oh, what an old fool I am!”
Then, all of a sudden, it was as though a great, fresh breeze had blown through the house. They all drew a long breath and began to talk loudly and cheerfully about the weather and Aunt Frances’s trip and how Aunt Harriet was and which room Aunt Frances was to have and would she leave her wraps down in the hall or take them upstairs—and, in the midst of this, Betsy, her heart ready to burst, dashed out of doors, followed by Shep. She ran madly toward the barn. She did not know where she was going. She only knew that she must run and jump and shout, or she would explode.
Shep ran and jumped because Betsy did.
To these two wild creatures, careering through the air like bright-blown autumn leaves, appeared little Molly in the barn door.