Mrs. Dudley smiled assent.
“And you’ll go with us?” invited the elder woman.
Mrs. Dudley shook her head. “I’m afraid—”
“Nonsense! She can, can’t she, Polly?”
“Yes, do, mother. I’m longing to have you see it.”
She still shook her head, but, as Polly said, the shakes were less emphatic.
“Let’s start by six o’clock,” went on Mrs. Gresham. “To-day would have been lovely, but probably to-morrow will be just as nice. You say we can have it now, and with all the furniture?”
“All there is,” Polly answered. “Of course, there’ll have to be a good deal besides. The living-room is so large and beautiful it will make a lovely ward. At each end is a wide casement window, one opening on the road, the other on the wood—where the deer come down. As I said, about five acres of timber-land go with the place. The house is the best located of all on the mountain, with woods on the north which break the heavy winds. There’s a big fireplace in the living-room, and all sorts of pretty nooks and corners, with shelves and bookracks—oh, you’ll go crazy over it, just as I did! The big room is two stories high, and the stairs lead right up from that to a little balcony which runs clear across the side and opens into the bedrooms. The other building is not far away, an inscription in such pretty letters, The Study, is right over the door. You see, the young man is a lawyer, and that was his den. It will do beautifully for a dormitory for the older boys and the doctor that father sends with us—of course, we’ll have to have a doctor.”
“Of course,” echoed Mrs. Gresham absently. “The brother and sister gone?”
“Yes, nobody left but the housekeeper, Benedicta Clapperton—isn’t that a name? But she’s a dear. She told me she hoped I’d buy the place, for she ‘appertained’ to it, and she ‘cackerlated’ I was the ‘facsimile’ of her ‘dear Miss Flora.’ She adores children, and Sally says she is a wonder in the cooking line; so she will probably stuff the ward with soldiers and sailors and a whole barnyard besides. But I have fallen in love with her, and I believe she will be our strongest asset—just you wait and see!”