It was getting dark when Freda came out at the side porch and looked anxiously down the road.
“Mother should have come on that train,” she told herself. Then she waited to hear the train pass at the second crossing. “She would be on her way up now if she came,” Freda reflected, “I’ll get my things on and go to meet her.”
Coming down the stairs she called Cora, but receiving no reply she did not wait to find her. She expected to be gone only a few minutes and it was not worth while to wait to tell Cora where she was going.
The dusk came down quickly. Even as Freda passed under the big elm tree she could not see the moss at its trunk.
She hastened on, and was almost startled into a scream as she heard a noise. It was but the tinkle of a bell.
“Someone on a bicycle!” exclaimed Freda, in relief.
The bell tinkled again, and through an opening in the trees she caught a glimpse of the messenger boy from the railroad station. He saw her and called:
“A message for you!”
“A message for me?” she repeated in surprise. “Who can it be from?” At once she thought of her mother.
“I don’t know,” answered the lad. “Mr. Burke, at the station, took it over the telephone, and wrote it out. Here it is,” and he held up an envelope. “It’s all paid, and you don’t have to sign the book; it isn’t a regular telegram.”