“Then he certainly shall not go,” Mr. Newby returned promptly. “But what do you propose to do with him?”
“He can have some private lessons here at home. I shall see that he has enough to do, but not too much. Boys of that age need a mother, John.”
“I presume so,” Mr. Newby returned ruefully. “So far as I can see, I have made a mess of about everything that I have attempted to manage.”
“Don’t slander yourself; I would not let anyone else say that of you, most assuredly, and, besides, it is not true, John.”
“I am not at all sure of that, Christine.” Then he kissed her again, and went in search of Beth, with whom he had a long talk, despite the fact that it was then after midnight.
After all, Beth did not return with Dolly. Mrs. Newby frankly owned that she should feel very anxious if Beth went off to college before her hands had healed, and Beth found herself the next morning watching her stepmother unpack her trunk, while she herself was quite rejoiced over the fact that she should have another week or two at home. So Dolly went back alone.
Beth came ten days later, and Dolly knew, from the expression of contentment and happiness on her face, that she was now enjoying the blessing which a real home and home-love can give.
The term was a busy one for all the girls. They had come to college, for the most part, at least, because they were inspired by a genuine love for knowledge. They had their times of recreation, of course, and their merry evenings in Dolly’s room when they again made fudge and tea. Nevertheless, there was plenty of good, hard work done, and the Easter holidays found them all ready for a brief rest again. Mary went home with Dolly, and Beth would stop for one night on her return to college; but now, strangely enough, as it seemed to Beth herself, she could scarcely wait to get home.
Beth had roomed alone since Margery Ainsworth’s expulsion, and while Dolly often longed to get permission to move her possessions across the hall, and become Beth’s room-mate, she was too truly fond of Mary by this time, to wish to hurt her feelings. So, while the girls often wished that they could room together, it did not seem possible, for the freshmen year at least.
As commencement time drew near, the other students began to make arrangements for the next year. Rooms and room-mates were chosen, and everything gotten into readiness for the ensuing term. Dolly and Beth were talking it over one day, rather lugubriously, in Beth’s room.