“He will come,” Polly assured her confidently.
“How soon is the next train?” questioned Lilith.
“In about an hour and a half. We’ll go uptown and get some ice-cream.”
At this delightful suggestion Dolly brightened. Of course, Sardis would come on the next train. How foolish she had been to lose hope!
Before they left the station, Polly called at the telegraph office and obtained her message, leaving instructions to have any possible future telegrams delivered to her at once. The slip of yellow paper was fascinating to Dolly, since it seemed to bring her brother nearer.
Expect me on 11.45 train to-morrow.
Sardis Merrifield
That was all it said. The date was of the previous day.
The cream was all that the little girl’s fancy had pictured it, and the pineapple ice that Polly added made it quite the finest that she had ever tasted. If Sardis had been sitting at her side her joy would have been perfect. Still, her anticipation was there to make up any lack, and she was very happy.
The 1.06 train thundered in and out of Overlook valley; the borrowed car with its anxious passengers waited back of the station-house; but Sardis Merrifield did not appear.