At the earnest pleading of her friend, Sana smiled, “Oh, you are so good—you are the kindest woman I ever met.”
Mrs. O’Brien laughed at that, saying, “My dear child, it is easy to be kind to you.”
“I’m sure I don’t know why I am imposing upon you so much.”
Mrs. O’Brien stroked Sana’s hair and replied, “Don’t let us talk about it. You simply come along. Your being with us will be ample reward.”
“Well, if that is the way you feel about it, I surely cannot refuse. Yes, I shall be glad to go with you.”
“Now you are showing the proper spirit.” She rang a bell, adding, “I shall tell the maid to pack at once. We can’t get away from here quick enough to suit me. Perhaps you didn’t know but Mr. O’Brien is on his way to the mountains already, to get things in order.”
The next morning they were soon on board the river steamer, sailing up the majestic Hudson.
It was an ideal day for a river trip. The two women seated well forward on the upper deck basked in the warm sunshine, which, tempered by the cooling breeze that came down river, seemed so utterly different from the sweltering sun that beamed on the city’s paved streets that they could readily have believed themselves to be in another land. Sana was very much interested in a book she had brought with her and Mrs. O’Brien likewise read from the various magazines she had purchased at the dock. So the morning hours fled quickly by, so quickly indeed that but few words passed between them before the dinner call was sounded.
The stimulating hours spent on deck had given them a hearty appetite. They ate leisurely and contentedly, Mrs. O’Brien more than once commenting on the change that had already been wrought in Sana.
Returning to the deck they resumed their chairs and books. Reading soon became tiresome, however, and they fell to talking of this, that and what-not, as will two ladies at any time.