“That makes me want to join all the more,” came the laughing answer.
“I can tell you just this much, Uncle Ned,” cried Elsa, unfastening Miss Ruth’s golf cape, “we are making things for Christmas.”
“And does Miss Ruth live here in the house next to your grandmother’s?” asked the tall uncle, taking the cape from Elsa.
“Yes; she lives all alone with her aunt, just the way I live all alone with grandmother,” Elsa said, a little sadly.
“You ought to be very good friends,” said the uncle, soberly, for he had noticed the change in Elsa’s tone.
“We are,” replied Ruth Warren convincingly.
“Yes, we are,” echoed Elsa in a happy voice now.
“Let me go ahead on your path and make some tracks for you, the snow is so deep,” suggested Mr. Danforth, quickly stepping forward. So Ruth Warren followed in his footsteps, and Elsa brought up in the rear.
At the door, Elsa’s uncle put out his hand and said in a grateful voice: “My little niece has written me about you, Miss Warren, and I want to thank you for all that you are doing to make her happy.”
“Elsa and her friends give me a great deal of pleasure,” said Miss Ruth in turn, with an unmistakable ring of sincerity in her voice.