“So the babe was passed from one to another in that circle of friends, until a very dear lady found her not far from this very place, and here you are, Sidney!”
“Yes, and fortunate I am! Were they sure of my name, Father?”
“Oh, yes. You were correctly labeled, my dear! And the woman, whose name I will not give you, had carefully preserved all that she knew. But, she said during the years she had consoled herself with the thought that you could not be better off, though that was largely for my benefit, of course. She did not know where your parents lived, as the address at the hospital gave only that of your Grandmother Shirley, Mrs. Dudley, who was then living at Glencoe.”
“Of my grandmother, you mean,” said Sidney seeing something funny in it. “Shirley, I’m a Dudley now. Write to your great-aunt about it.”
Mrs. Thorne did not particularly relish the trend of this conversation and rose to go into the house with her letters. “Try to be especially good to your mother, Sidney,” Mr. Thorne suggested, in low tones, as his wife left them. “You have kept from showing your worry so wonderfully of late. Now she may need a little comfort.”
Sidney, who had been sitting at her father’s feet for a little while, held his hand a little more tightly and assented. Shirley excused herself and slipped away, for it was not the time for claiming her twin sister, or talking of gay girl affairs. It was fortunate, she thought, that she should be leaving them to this readjustment. What would be the next step?
The next step, so far as the Thornes were concerned, was a long letter to Dr. and Mrs. Harcourt, sent on by Shirley, who could arrive at home only about a week before her parents. No plans could be made, if there were any to make, before the Harcourts arrived. Sidney, however, told Shirley to tell Hope that they were sisters. “Mother and Father say that there is to be no secrecy about it, though we do not intend to announce it. But we all agree that I am fortunate to have such a fine family and that the resemblance between us would be foolish for us to ignore it. The friends may as well understand, though no one need know exactly how the separation happened.”
“That should be entirely in your hands to say, I think,” Shirley returned. “Think of the excitement that I’m going to have! You may expect to see a wild looking college professor springing along, with a step just like yours, up your front yard,——”
“And they say that you and I walk just alike!”
“Do we?”