“I’m not thinking of any mystery,” snapped Miss Grant. “What I’m thinking of is facts. One fact is that I’ve got a pack of scheming relations who are trying to send me off to the hospital for an operation while they loot my house.”
Mary Louise’s forehead wrinkled in surprise.
“I didn’t know you had any relations besides your niece,” she said.
“Certainly I have. Haven’t you ever heard of the Grants in Riverside? Mrs. Grace Grant—a woman about my age? She has two grown sons and a married daughter. Well, they spent all their money, and now they want mine. But they’re not going to get it!”
Her hand went to her side again, as if she were in pain, and Mary Louise decided it was time for them to go.
“Well, good-bye, Miss Grant,” she said. “And don’t forget to call on us if you want help.”
It was a relief to be out in the bright sunlight again, away from the gloom and the decay of that ugly house. Mary Louise took a deep breath and whistled for Silky. He was waiting at the foot of the porch steps.
As they walked down the path they were startled by a rustle in one of the cedar trees. Silky perked up his ears and went to investigate the disturbance. In another moment a head peered cautiously through the branches. It was Elsie Grant.
“Will you come over here and talk to me a little while?” she whispered, as if she were afraid of being caught. “I never see any girls my own age—and—you look so nice!”
Both Mary Louise and Jane were touched by the loneliness of this poor unhappy orphan. They went gladly to her side.