Now and then she made an impatient movement of her reins and smiled, appreciating the fact that Tobias would not move any faster than his own inclination ordered. Besides, she was in no particular hurry. So long as the sun shone with its early afternoon radiance upon the white world surrounding her, she enjoyed being a part of the great outdoors.
The wind blew harder and the snow danced faster and still Tory laughed. The House in the Woods would appear like a miniature fairy palace when she finally reached it.
It was Friday, and she had received permission from her aunt, Miss Victoria Fenton, to remain for the night. Therefore, when darkness fell she and Miss Frean could sit by the open fire and talk as only they could talk.
If of late life had not been so satisfactory as usual, Memory Frean would help set things right.
Only a little more than a year before on an autumn afternoon they had met along this self-same road.
The thought of Westhaven without Memory Frean, Victoria Drew did not like to contemplate.
Since her arrival in the little New England town of Westhaven two friends she had come to consider indispensable to her happiness, Memory Frean and Katherine Moore.
No longer was Kara to be found in the Gray House on the Hill, her own title for the village orphan asylum.
Counting the days, Tory felt it incredible that she and Kara had been separated only two months. But then she was one of the persons who measured time not by the calendar but by her own needs.
After the excitement of helping Kara make ready to leave had followed a natural reaction. Then word had come that the other girl was settled in a small hospital in New York City. How long she must wait before the doctors could say whether she would be able to walk again no one would predict.