"One moment, please, I am busy," murmured Kate, glancing up from her desk in surprise. She was not often interrupted so unceremoniously. But instantly she rose to her feet. She had no need to ask what had happened. The girl's face told her.
"Mother!" Jemima's voice was hoarse. "Is it true that—Philip's father—is coming out of the penitentiary?"
Kate inclined her head, paling.
"And that you are getting him out?"
"Philip and I together."
"Why?"
Kate did not answer. She was struggling to collect her wits for this sudden necessity.
Jemima came quite close, searching her face with curious grimness; and Kate saw the resemblance the old man had seen, and shivered.
"Mother, that was not the only news I heard at the store. I overheard some women talking. They said—"
"Surely we need not concern ourselves with village gossip, my child!" Kate was fighting for time.