“I shall keep her, certainly, as long as she will stay, Janey dear. But do you see how wonderful all this is going to be for Letty? Now, she is a homeless little girl, with nowhere to go in the wide, wide world; but if Mrs. Hartwell-Jones takes her she will be housed and cared for and protected. It is a fearful thing to be a little girl alone in the world, Janey.”
“Yes, grandmother,” replied Jane solemnly. “And wouldn’t it be a surprise if Letty should turn out to be a relation of Mrs. Hartwell-Jones’s? It would be like one of her own stories, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, it certainly would be wonderful. But there is not much likelihood of that, dear. There are a great many Joneses in the world.”
“Yes, it seems to be a very popular name. But, grandmother, when shall we know surely, if Letty is coming back?”
“I think it is pretty certain,” replied grandmother with a smile. “Mrs. Hartwell-Jones had about made up her mind before she started, and Mrs. Drake will not have very much to say against Letty, if we are to believe Mr. Drake’s account. The child will be a great help to Mrs. Hartwell-Jones, with her lame ankle.”
Jane was gathering up the scattered scraps of bright colored silk.
“I think I won’t sew any more just now, grandmother, if you will ’scuse me. I want to go out to the gate and watch for them to come back.”
Outside the sitting-room door she met the boys. Her superiority in having been confided a secret made her very amiable, and when she saw that Billy Carpenter carried a puppy, she forgot her injury in examining the ball of fur to decide which puppy it was. But she kept one eye on the gate and presently tumbled the puppy back in to Billy’s arms and ran off toward the driveway with a shout.
Bill was not expecting the burden at that moment and the fat puppy fell yelping to the ground. But Jane did not turn round.
“What in the world!” ejaculated Christopher, who had never before seen Jane deaf to cries of distress.