“I’m so glad your mother’s better,” the teacher was saying. “I know you want to stay, and we can’t spare such girls as you very well.”
Urilla’s face beamed. “Oh, Miss Howard, do you really mean it? I feel that I’m improving, I was so stupid at first—now I can see through things better. Gincy’s helped me, she’s always saying something nice and encouraging.”
“Gincy’s a treasure!” said Miss Howard warmly. “But where are the girls, they were on the track a minute ago?”
Another train thundered by. “I wish they wouldn’t keep so far ahead, that’s the 3:15, and it goes like lightning when it’s making up time,” Urilla remarked uneasily.
They hurried along, scanning each clump of bushes and stack of grain, but no one was visible. “They couldn’t have gone in here!” exclaimed Miss Howard, looking at a little weather beaten cabin very near the track. Then she listened. Yes, there were voices that sounded familiar. Through the half-open door, the two caught glimpses of Gincy’s bright skirt and gay hat.
“I wonder what they’re doing, and why we didn’t see them when they turned off the track,” said Urilla as they opened a rickety gate and went into the yard. “What a dreadful place to live!”
Miss Howard agreed as she looked at the forlorn and desolate little cabin with not one home-like feature; even the yard was bare and wind-swept.
“Why, there’s Talitha!”
“What?” The two pushed up eagerly.
“Mrs. Donnelly told me this morning she had gone to see some of her kinfolk, but I didn’t know they lived here,” said Urilla, looking curiously at the bare little cabin.