"Oh, Pat, I'm so glad! I know you'll win!" and Renée looked as though she believed that the Yellowbirds needed only Pat as one of their guards to rout the Wasps in an overwhelming defeat!
"I'm glad you've been chosen to substitute, for you have practiced so faithfully," declared Aunt Pen. "It is hard on True, though!"
"Peggy says that maybe it's a kind Providence that sprained her ankle, 'cause True didn't play as well in the last game! Of course, as Peg says, when you're captain of a team you can't let friendship make a bit of difference! And she says if I play all right in this game she thinks I'll be put on the team! You can just know I'm going to try my best!"
Aunt Pen had decided that Renée was not strong enough as yet for the basketball practice. Sometimes she went with Pat to the gymnasium, carefully keeping out of the way of the players but watching with interest Pat's progress in the game; more often she spent the hours when Pat was at practice, in painting, working out new designs for her cards, reading or walking with Aunt Pen. Each day found the little girl happier, more contented in her new home and more passionately devoted to her new friends who had brought into her life a wealth of affection and interests she had never dreamed could exist. Day by day Aunt Pen saw the fragile body develop into girlish strength and the timid spirit gain in courage and confidence. The shadow of her sorrows would never completely leave her, but it had helped in moulding and maturing the young mind and strengthening it to meet whatever the future held for her.
Aunt Pen had found a fascination in Renée's quiet company.
"One gets the impression that never a word passes her lips quickly! Sometimes she makes me feel ashamed of my impulsiveness!" Penelope told her brother one evening. They had been talking of her work with the girls. Mr. Everett had asked:
"Well--is our larkspur budding?"
Aunt Pen, taking his question very seriously, had answered modestly: "I don't know about the Latin and Algebra but I do know that Pat is a healthier, happier girl than she has ever been before, and we may feel very proud of Renée when we turn her over to Captain Allan!"
Pat was not there to see the color flood Aunt Pen's face as she said these last words.
"We ought to hear from him soon! I hope he has been able to find out more concerning the child. I do not like to question her too closely--I can see that it makes her unhappy and homesick."