“I’m not afraid.”
Elizabeth thanked him once more for the books, then she walked with him to his car. She watched it plunge down the mountain-side. Colonel Thomas was apparently afraid neither of speed nor of speed laws.
When she returned to her doorstep, she found another visitor, a tall, middle-aged woman in a serviceable blue dress with a white collar.
“I came down through the woods,” she explained. “I’m the State nurse.”
Elizabeth hastened to welcome her. Her cheeks glowed. Here was the sort of friendliness of which she had dreamed! Did the nurse know nothing about them, or didn’t she care what their grandfather was said to have done?
“I’ve been up to see Old Mammy Sheldon, and she tells me some one made a will for her. I met the road-menders, and they told me where you lived. I’m going to stop some day to talk about those wretched people, if I may.”
“You may, indeed!”
“Next winter I’m going to have this side of the mountain for my bailiwick. I wonder whether you would take me to board and lodge?”
The nurse, watching Elizabeth, thought with a start that she grew pale.
“I will, indeed!”