That scared me so that I sat right down at my lovely desk with the secret drawers, as soon as I reached my room, and wrote the conversation to Miss Hilliard. And I’ve wished ever since that I hadn’t. I’m always doing something that I wish afterwards I hadn’t,—but you know me, Lina!
So you see that I don’t know whether I like my uncle very much or not, though I am grateful to him for hunting me up and that ought to make up for everything else. I think that Cousin Andy knows that his father is a little queer, for he makes it up to me by being extra nice. He is Andrew Van Meter and is somewhere around thirty years old, perhaps older, and was in the war. He was shell-shocked and wounded, but won’t talk about it. He has some trouble with his back and there are days when he does not come to meals. I wanted to do something for him, read to him, or anything, but Cousin Di said not to, that Andrew wanted to be by himself at those times.
But other times he is just as friendly as can be. He said that his father “is a very scholarly man,” and Uncle Pieter does read in his library till all hours of the night, Cousin Di says. She told me that it was my great-grandfather who made all the first money in the family. My grandfather was a sort of “gentleman farmer” and had “investments;” and Uncle Pieter got through college early and lived in Albany with his family until his father wanted him to come out and run this place,—and, oh, Lina, it is a beautiful place! There is a big orchard and a wonderful woods. I don’t know anything about what kind of land it is, but there is money enough somewhere to fix the house up and have everything the way Uncle Pieter wants it.
I think that I mentioned Cousin Di’s son in one of my cards. We are “Jannet and Jan,” though Jan is called John at school. He is jolly and a little careless sometimes and carries his fun too far, Miss Hilliard would say, but I like him and his friend, “Chick” Clyde. I am getting well acquainted with Nell Clyde, who lives nearest of any of the young folks around here. Oh, it’s so different, Lina, and I haven’t begun to tell you the half! We have a family ghost, two or three of them, perhaps, and whatever it is, I’ve already had a queer experience or two that I’m not very keen on thinking about. My room seems to be the “haunted room,” but I can’t help but feel that somebody is responsible for these odd happenings and I’m going to find out about it just as soon as I can.
You would think that I’d have loads of time, wouldn’t you? There are no lessons and no recitation hours. But for some reason, I don’t get half as much done. Perhaps I was a little tired, and then it has been so exciting to find my family and learn so many different things.
Commencement will be here pretty soon. There is no chance of my going to Philadelphia for it, and really, Lina, I could not bring myself to leave right now. Don’t say that to Miss Hilliard, though. She might think that I have lost interest, and I haven’t a bit.
Now you are saying that I might tell you more about the mysteries, but this letter is too long now. You can tell the girls that I’m in one of the fine old Dutch houses, with a ghost and everything, and that I’ve been having a great time, riding all over the place, and the country, and getting acquainted with people. I’ll write you again after you are home. Do write again, though, and tell me all the news about the seniors and the play and how everything goes off. Give dear Miss Marcy a big hug for me. Aren’t you lucky to have an aunt on the faculty!
So Jannet wrote to her chum and room-mate. Meanwhile Miss Hilliard and her friend Jannet’s lawyer, had been making further inquiries about Pieter Van Meter, without discovering anything particularly to his credit. Miss Hilliard, busy with the last days of school, was relieved to find that there was no need to worry about the environment of her young protegée. Matters could rest where they were for the present. She had received no further suggestion from Mr. Van Meter in regard to a change in guardianship. This she did not intend to relinquish without being very sure that it was to Jannet’s advantage. Of Jannet’s first impressions, she thought little.
Miss Hilliard’s errand in Albany, upon that day when she put Jannet in charge of Mrs. Holt and Andrew Van Meter, was to the office of a lawyer in Albany, a gentleman of whom she had been told, prominent in the place and of a wide acquaintance. Briefly she related the object of her visit, when, fortunately for her limited time, she was able to have an immediate interview.