“Anna has gone?” she asked, after they had seated themselves.
“I saw her and Forrester off in the noon train,” answered Kenyon. “She cried a little when I told her how you had pleaded for Forrester with Austin, and she sends her thanks. She also begs you not to think harshly of her, nor of him. She said that neither of them had ever meditated any wrong against you.”
“I feel sure of that,” replied Dallas. “I feel quite sure of it.” Then, eagerly: “And you think they will be happy together!”
“They love one another very much,” returned Kenyon. “And, in my opinion, that is everything.”
There was a brief pause; and then the girl said:
“I hope you are right, for I wish her all that is good. We have always been together, you see.”
“You are really related, then?”
“She is my step-sister, and is a few years younger than myself. When our parents died, Mr. Austin, who was my father’s friend, took us in and cared for us, for we were very small at the time.”
“You lived with him at Seattle, then?”
“Not altogether. Mr. Farbush and he were our joint guardians; most of the time we lived at the Fifth Avenue house.”