“Consult again! Oh, poor Uncle Robert!” said Rosanna compassionately. “I thought that was all over with.”
“It is not as painful as you seem to think,” said Uncle Robert dryly. “At all events, my health is not breaking under the strain. I never knew you to fuss so, Rosanna. Just what have you up your sleeve anyhow? Don’t you like your Captain after all?”
“Oh, I perfectly love her,” cried Rosanna warmly. “You don’t know how sweet she is, Uncle Robert! And she is such a good Captain. Every girl in the patrol loves her and will do anything in the world for her.”
Seeing that Uncle Robert appeared to be listening, Rosanna went on warming to her subject.
“At the Rally, I heard one of the ladies say that our Captain was considered the best one in all the city. And she looks so young; just like one of the girls when she gets into her Scout uniform. When we are on hikes, she runs around and plays with us and joins all our games. Oh, yes, Uncle Robert, I do love her dearly!”
“I don’t know but what I do myself,” admitted Uncle Robert unexpectedly.
“Why, Uncle Robert!” said Rosanna in a shocked tone. “What a thing for you to say!”
Uncle Robert wondered if he had made a mistake. It was not the sort of a remark he would want repeated. So he made another mistake.
“Wasn’t it? A joke, Rosanna; just a merry jest. Thought you would laugh over it. Ha ha! Ha ha!”
“Ha ha!” repeated Rosanna to be agreeable. Sometimes Uncle Robert was rather disappointing. “But she is lovely anyway, and has loads and loads of friends, and, Uncle Robert, I think she has a sweetheart because boxes and boxes of flowers come to her, and she just keeps a little one to wear, and sends all the rest to the hospital. And lovely books come by mail and the fattest letters! One had poetry in it, too. I could tell by the shape of the writing down the page.”