“Too early for a fashionable call?” asked Treble.
“Come along, girls,” Mrs. Manton welcomed them. “I am sure Nora has been anxiously waiting for you. I’ll let her tell you the news,” she finished, indicating the chairs for the party.
Lucia was in a big steamer chair. It almost swallowed up the tiny figure, but she had a way of reclining, quite gracefully.
“How are you today, Lucia?” asked Alma.
“Oh, I’m all right,” replied the child, pinking through her dark skin. She looked very pretty in one of Nora’s bright rose dresses, with the same color hair ribbon, and her feet encased in a pair of white slippers. No wonder she was “all right.”
“She’s going to stay,” said Nora proudly. “We’ve adopted her.”
“Quick work,” remarked Laddie. “But I don’t blame you. She looks as if she grew right here in this lovely big wild wood. Don’t you like it, Lucia?”
“Lots, much,” said the child.
“We found out all about it, of course,” continued Nora. “Lucia won’t mind if I tell you?” she questioned.
“No,” said the stranger. The single word indicated her timidity.