MAIDA’S LITTLE HOUSE
CHAPTER I THE HOME COMING
“I wonder when Maida’s coming back?” said Rosie Brine as she approached the trio of children who sat on the Lathrop lawn.
The three were Laura Lathrop; her brother, Harold Lathrop; their friend, Arthur Duncan. Rosie did not join them on the grass. She seated herself in the hammock behind them and began to swing, first slowly, then so violently that her black curls swept back and forth with her swift progress and her speech came in jerks. “I wouldn’t mind—how long I had to wait—if I only knew—when she was coming.”
Nobody answered. Rosie had only asked a question that they all asked at intervals, hoping against hope that somebody would make a comforting guess.
“I don’t believe she’s ever coming back,” Rosie answered herself, recklessly swinging almost over their heads.
Arthur Duncan, a big broad-shouldered boy with tousled thick brown hair beating down over his forehead and almost veiling eyes as steady as they were black, answered this. “Oh Maida’s coming home some time. She promised and she always keeps her promises.”