"That seems to be a very long letter, mother," said Herbert, looking up from his task.
For a minute or two his mother still sat with the letter in her hand. But her son could see she was not reading it now, and he wondered what news it could contain that his mother was so affected by it.
"You read it, Herbert. I wonder how it came into Mr. Ramsay's hands. It is marked, 'To be enquired about.'"
She passed the letter to Herbert as she spoke, and he saw it was an official notification, that a scholarship gained by some girl had been resigned in favour of another, because of the death of the winner's father. There was some explanation about the girl having decided to stay at home and help her mother, but he saw nothing in this that should disturb his mother, and did not notice the name of the girl, in his hurry to read the business it contained.
"Do you think Mr. Ramsay intended to help this girl? What is her name?" and the boy turned to the letter once more.
"It is the name that struck me—Elsie Winn! My sister's name was Elsie, and I wondered whether this could be her daughter."
Once more the boy turned to the letter and read it through more carefully. When he came to the end, he said, "We must find these people, and see if it is my lost aunt. If it should be, they certainly need the money my father left for them; and they are not the kind of people you feared they might be."
"How do you know that, Herbert?"
"Why, mother, you see the letter from her governess says she is a very estimable girl, and deeply regrets having to give up the scholarship, but that she thinks it is her duty to do this, and stay at home and help her mother. Now, a girl who would do this is worth something! There is some grit in her, and she isn't likely to be vulgar, or at all a common sort of girl."
"My dear boy, how you do jump to conclusions! I send you to Mrs. Ramsay with a polite message, and you bring me back a bag of correspondence to look over. Now, this letter tells of a girl giving up a scholarship to stay at home with her mother, and you jump to the conclusion that she is a little paragon of perfection!"