For the moment the girl was startled. “I was thinking about South Ridgefield,” she confessed timidly.
“I knew it,” Aunt Kate exclaimed, apparently much puffed up by her mind-reading ability. “You are trying to see how unhappy you can make yourself and every one else who looks at you.”
Virginia was mute before this accusation.
“Were you thinking of your father?” asked Aunt Kate, proceeding with her examination of the witness.
The girl nodded sadly.
“Why do you think of him?” Aunt Kate seemed shocked at the depraved taste of Obadiah’s daughter.
“Oh, Aunt Kate, I do wish that he would pay for Charles Augustus’s operation. I would feel as if there might be some chance of my going home some day.”
“I am sorry that you don’t care for the company of Helen and me, Virginia.”
The girl gave her aunt a pleading look. “You know what I mean. I love you and Helen dearly.”
The older woman softened, patting her niece upon the cheek; but she stuck to the business at hand. “That water business would cost your father a lot of money, wouldn’t it?”