A look of intense relief radiated Miss Helen’s face.
“Cousin Annie,” she said, “shall we rub out the chalk line and forget the past?”
“I’m muckle glad to do it, Cousin Helen,” said the other.
Whereupon the two ladies kissed and with arms interlocked marched into the drawing-room.
The four girls lingered behind in the dining-room. That there had been some romance in Miss Helen’s past they all well knew, and now it did look as if they had stumbled against it.
They gathered in a whispering group near the window looking into a trim, pretty garden.
“Billie, do you know the story?” demanded Nancy with uncontrollable curiosity.
“No,” answered Billie, “I wish I did. And the worst of it is, we can never, never ask, because she might not like it and I wouldn’t want to take any risk. Even Papa doesn’t know it. She has never mentioned it to a soul.”
“It must have been a love affair,” put in Mary.
“Of course,” added Elinor.