The next morning, under the elm-tree, the five other girls listened with ever-widening eyes, as Adele and Gertrude told of their visit to Miss Grackle.
“Well, you surely are the two bravest girls I ever met,” Rosamond Wright declared, and the others fully agreed with her.
“The visit we are going to make this afternoon,” Gertrude replied, “will be harder still. I almost dread calling on those two old people, who are so unhappy because they have to live in the poorhouse.”
But a pleasant surprise awaited the girls.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
A VISIT TO THE POORHOUSE
That afternoon Adele and Gertrude drove to the poorhouse, which was two miles out on the east road. Leaving Firefly hitched at the gate, they walked up the gravel path, on either side of which was a narrow garden, bright with autumn flowers. Tall maples stood about on the lawn, and their leaves were red and yellow. The afternoon sun was warm, and many old ladies, wrapped in shawls, were seated here and there on rustic benches.
“Everything seems cheerful,” Adele said. “I wonder where we shall find Mrs. Quigley.”
They made inquiry of a woman who was coming down the walk.
“I’m Mrs. Quigley!” was the cheerful reply, and the old lady led them to a bench near by. “I don’t know you, do I?” she asked kindly.
The girls were indeed relieved, for they had both feared that they were to meet a grief-stricken old lady. They were not old enough to know that many a bright face hides an aching heart, and the wrinkled face smiling up at them surely tried to be bright.