“Where are the Van Meters buried?” asked Janet.
“Why do you want to know that?” asked Andrew in his turn. “You want only bright things here.”
“I just thought that I might take some flowers to my mother’s grave,” she replied. “That was all,—just once, perhaps, to show that I am glad to know about her.”
“Why, little cousin, we knew nothing about it and supposed that she is buried by your father. Father took over the place to relieve grandfather. Your mother’s things were all here, but she did not send for them and was coming to visit that summer after you were born. Then we heard that you all had been wiped out in an epidemic of some sort, like the ‘flu’ that we had during the war. It was past before we knew.”
Janet, surprised, was about to tell her cousin about her father and the brief story that she knew, but Uncle Pieter had silently entered and was standing beside her, saying, “Come, no sad memories. Let us have some of Paulina’s griddle cakes.”
Janet followed her uncle in silence, wondering at his jovial tone, for it was not in harmony with his usual style. He was just a little queer. No wonder that her mother did not like him very well. But he was being good to her. She must remember that. Griddle cakes, bacon and the sweet maple syrup were very good indeed. Janet noticed that as they all left the table Paulina handed Mrs. Holt a note, a folded scrap of paper, which she read with a frown. Paulina had gone back to the kitchen without a smile to relieve her rather dour, defensive expression.
“Excuse me, Janet,” said Mrs. Holt. “Amuse yourself in any way you like for I have to see P’lina about something.”
“I have plenty of fun ahead of me, Cousin Di. I’m going through that old desk of Mother’s to see if I can find a secret drawer or two.”
“You will,” Mrs. Holt asserted.
But that morning Janet found nothing particularly exciting. The “secret” drawers were too easily found, she thought. There were some papers, however, though none of any importance. A package of letters from her father to her mother she hesitated to read and saved it as possible at a future time. She read a little in some of her mother’s books and then started outdoors in her hiking costume, for she wanted to see the farm.