"I am your Aunt Amelia," announced the woman, "and I have come to take you to Michigan to live with your Uncle George and me."
"Where did I get any Uncle George?" asked Marian, turning to the superintendent.
"It isn't necessary to give a mere child too much information," put in Mrs. St. Claire; "it is enough for her to know that she has relatives who are willing to take her and do their duty by her."
Regardless of this the man answered one of the questions he saw in Marian's solemn blue eyes.
"Your uncle and aunt," he explained, "are visiting in the city; they were in church last Sunday when you sang. When relatives come for Little Pilgrims, Marian, we have to let them go."
"You will not send me away with—her!" exclaimed the child, terror and entreaty expressed in the uplifted face.
"Dear child, we must."
"But I won't go, I won't go," cried Marian, clinging to the superintendent for protection. "Oh, you won't send me away, Mrs. Moore won't let them take me—I won't go! Please let me stay until the pretty mother comes again and I will ask her to take me and I know she will. Oh, if you love me, don't send me away with her!"
"It is just as I told my husband Sunday morning," remarked Mrs. St. Claire as the superintendent tried to soothe Marian's violent grief. "I said the child was subject to tantrums. It is sad to see such traits cropping out in one so young. Lack of training may have much to do with it. Other influences——"