“Well said, Ann. I won’t.”
“Your father, Miss Sterling, when I last saw him, was sitting before a rousing fire in Grandmother’s biggest fire-place. I begged him to accompany me, but saying that he was not accustomed to such severe weather in Montana, he refused and continued to talk politics with Dad.”
“I’ll find out the truth yet, Maurice Tyson,” laughed Ann. “Oh, here we are! How beautiful everything looks! I do love this place!”
“I’m glad that you have gotten that far, at least.”
The LeRoy place was worthy of Ann’s exclamation. She had last seen it with its waving foliage on the tall old trees, and the flowers, carefully tended, along the walks or in beds upon the lawn. Now the trees, as on the campus at Forest Hill, were laden with snow, the evergreens bending to the ground where the broad spruce branches spread their beauty. The shrubbery along the curving drive bore also the white wintry blossoms from the snow drifts. The walks had been cleared and the entrance was free from snow.
Maurice fairly lifted Ann from the sleigh and turned to help Suzanne out of her nest of blankets. But Ann had gone on to meet a big man, who came out upon the veranda to find his little girl and take her in a fatherly embrace. “You shouldn’t have come out without a hat, Daddy. Maurice says that you are not used to cold, so couldn’t come to meet me.”
“I’ll have to have it out with Maurice,” said Mr. Sterling. “But it was comfortable before the fire this morning; and as I saw that Maurice preferred to meet you himself, I let him do it. Does he make love to you very seriously?” Mr. Sterling, Ann saw, was in joking mood.
“Not so very, Daddy. I’ll not have to call on you to send him away yet.”
And here was Mother, sweet and happy, all her precious family together at last, under Grandmother’s roof. Ann had a glimpse of Aunt Sue and Uncle Tyson, as she passed the door on her way to the stairs; but they waited until the travelers should come downstairs to greet them. Aunt Sue, Ann thought, would not care for embraces from cold arms. Adeline was waiting for Ann, to take her wraps and make her comfortable, while Felice performed a like service for Suzanne. The house was warm and Adeline brought Ann a hot cup of chocolate with some wafers.
“You knew that I liked chocolate better than tea, didn’t you, Adeline?” said Ann, as she sipped the hot drink.