"Is there a bed ready," Janet asked Mrs. Kimball.
"Yes, Madam, in the blue room." The Kimball family had a habit of distinguishing chambers by the color of the wall papers.
"That will do. We'll take her there. I think a little rest and food is all she needs. She looks as though she had walked far to-day."
A glance at the worn and dusty shoes confirmed this.
"Can we carry her, or shall I call John?" asked Cora, referring to the one man of all work, who kept the Kimball place in order.
"Oh, I think we can manage," said her mother. "She is not heavy."
It was not until Cora and her mother lifted the girl, that they realized what a frail burden she was in their arms.
"She's only a girl, yet she has the face of a woman, and with traces of a woman's troubles," whispered Belle, as Cora and Mrs. Kimball, preceded by Janet to hold aside the draperies, left the room.
"Yes. And I wonder what she meant by speaking of her father and Sea Horse Island in the way she did?" spoke Bess. "It sounds almost like a mystery!"
"Oh, you and your mysteries!" scoffed Belle. "You'd scent one, if an Italian organ grinder stopped in front of the house, looked up at your window, and played the Miserere."