"For me!" gasped Trix.
"Yes, for you. You see now why I sent you off," said her mother. "I didn't want you to see it until it was all in place."
Trix had longed for a new piano, but she did not know whether to be glad or sorry; the revulsion of feeling was too strong.
"And you didn't have your leg cut off, after all?" asked Jack.
"I don't understand," said Mrs. Lane in bewilderment.
"Trix thought you were having your leg cut off, and that was why you sent her away," explained Margery. "We've had an awful day."
"You poor, poor child!" cried her mother, taking Trix in her lap, in spite of her great length. "Why didn't you tell Mrs. Gresham?"
And for the first time in that hard day Trix burst out crying, though she explained that it was because she was so glad.
"To think that we've had such a dreadful day for nothing," said Jack, in profound disgust, as they left the house.
"Why, Jack Hildreth, I'm ashamed of you; one might think you were sorry that Mrs. Lane wasn't a cripple," cried his cousin.