For a few minutes silence reigned, as the two stood there. John was thinking rapidly, and at last he turned to the girl with the light of a new idea shining in his eyes.
"I know what we can do," he told her. "We can hide you where your father cannot find you for some time. There is a place out in the hills where you can stay, and no one will have any idea where you are. Mother can go with you, and it will do her so much good, for she needs to get away for a change. We have a nice cabin there, which father built. It is on a little island, in a beautiful lake, and I know you will enjoy the life. You see, we have a coal mine on the shore of the lake, and that is why father built the cabin. He used to live there for weeks at a time. But since his death it has been occupied but little; although I sometimes spend several days there when out hunting."
The expression in the girl's eyes showed her interest in John's words, and when he stopped she lifted her face to his.
"But what about you?" she asked. "How will you get along without your mother?"
"Oh, I shall live there, too, part of the time," John laughingly explained. "You will not get clear of me as easily as all that. I shall have to attend to the farm, but having the car, I can run out and back in a short time. Perhaps you will see too much of me when you and mother set up housekeeping in the wilderness."
"I think it will be splendid!" Jess exclaimed. "I have often wanted to live just such a life as you describe. And having your mother with me, and you visiting us often, what more could one ask?"
"And just think of the delightful hours you and mother can spend upon the lake, or walking through the woods. And during the evenings and on wet days you will have books and magazines, for I shall keep you well supplied with reading matter. In fact, there are a good many books already in the cabin, for father was a great reader."
"When can we go, John?" Jess was all eager now for the adventure.
"We shall have to speak to mother first. I know that she will enter enthusiastically into our scheme."
"Then we had better go back to the house at once. We told her we would be away but a short time, and we have forgotten all about our promise."