How very different it all was! And how hard, how very hard it was going to be for Gloria! The painful separation was over. She had torn herself literally from the arms of faithful Jane, she had waved a goodbye to her dear friends in Barbend, she had promised so many that she would write to them, and now she was beginning the new life at Aunt Harriet’s.
“I’m so glad Hazel’s gone,” said the delicate looking woman with the wispy gray hair.
“Why?” asked Gloria, colorlessly.
“Oh, she’s so fussy. And besides I think you and I shall get along better alone.”
“Alone?”
“Why, yes, Hazel won’t be back for months, I expect. You can’t imagine how much trouble we had getting all her things ready.” A deep sigh vouched for this.
“But doesn’t—isn’t—Uncle Charley home?”
“Oh, no.” The thin face twitched. “He doesn’t come home often.”
Gloria’s heart sank, that is it felt still heavier, but to the girl seated in the linen covered chair in the semi-darkened room, it did not seem possible that her heart had any more depth to sink to.
“I didn’t know Uncle Charley was away,” she faltered.