The lady smiled.
"And I was just thinking how glad I was that he is not here, but that I could be so certain he was just where he ought to be to insure the safety of us all. How proud you must be of him, tonight! He is a true, brave man, and I am proud to call him my friend. Did you know we were schoolmates together?"
Hope looked up quickly, interested in spite of herself.
"That is it, then? I felt sure there was something, but he always avoided our questions. Was it when you were a young lady."
"No, a little girl. We lived in the same neighborhood."
"You did? Why—but papa lived in America, near Boston."
"So did I."
"Then you are American!" cried the girl, triumphantly.
The lady laughed a little.
"Have you guessed it? Yes, I was born on a small hill farm in Massachusetts, and when a wee child used to trudge, barefooted, across our pasture-lot to a little unpainted schoolhouse, on the cross-roads."