“Oh, don’t!” she broke in, impatiently. “Don’t! He is the best, the kindest man in the whole world. Don’t you dare say he isn’t.”
He looked at her in astonishment. Then he whistled.
“Great Scott!” he exclaimed. “Don’t take my head off. I didn’t say he wasn’t good and kind and all that. I think he is. I rather like him, as a matter of fact; even if he doesn’t like me.”
She turned upon him. “Now why do you say that?” she demanded. “If he doesn’t like you why does he let you come here—to this house? You haven’t any reason to say he doesn’t like you.”
“Maybe not. Perhaps he does like me. I hope he does. I want him to. As for his letting me come here to see you, I must say it’s mighty decent of him. I doubt if I should, if I were in his place—considering who I am. Come, Esther, don’t pitch into me this way. What have I done?”
She smiled then. “Oh, you haven’t done anything, Bob,” she said. “I am just—oh, excited and upset, that’s all. Uncle Foster has just told me the most wonderful thing. He is going to let me do what I have wanted to do for years and—and I ought to be very happy. I think I should be if it weren’t that I know how terribly lonely he is going to be without me.”
“Without you! What do you mean by that? Are you going somewhere? Is this the big news he was hinting at? Why, Esther! You aren’t going away, are you?”
She sat in the rocker. He was regarding her anxiously. She nodded.
“Yes, Bob,” she said, gravely. “I am. I am going abroad to study. I didn’t know a word about it until a few minutes ago. Uncle has planned it all. I am going with Mrs. Carter and—”
He interrupted. “What!” he cried. “You are going abroad?... When?”