"You'll be all well and walking about when I come back, won't you dear?" said she, at last, in a shaking voice.
"I shall get well thinking what a splendid time you're having, darling."
"Sophie—will you be quite the same to me when I come back?"
"Why, Neelie, dear, what a question! I shall always be the same to you."
"But I feel as if there were going to be something—that something was going to come between us;" and Cornelia began to droop like a flower under an icy wind. "You never could hate me, could you, Sophie?"
"Hate you! Neelie! What makes you speak so, dear? I have no misgivings."
"Oh! I don't know—I don't know! it must be because I'm wicked!"
"You wicked, my darling sister! Come," said Sophie, with an earnest smile, "think only of how much we love each other; let the misgivings go."
"Yes, we do love each other now, don't we? Whatever happens we'll always remember that. Good-by, Sophie!" said Cornelia, with a strong hug and a long kiss.
"Good-by, dear Neelie!"