“Didn’t he write you while you were away?”
“Business letters only,” said the girl, “and they were always written by Mr. Stanton, even when I first went.”
“Well, Uncle Colonel is out,” said Judy. “Stanton won’t even let him live in the house.”
“Why he was here last evening and this morning.”
“Oh yes, he gets his meals here. He and Val live down in the cottage; look, down there among the trees,” and she pointed to the gabled roof of a handsome colonial building some distance below the house.
Vivienne got up and went to the window.
“It’s a great surprise to us all to have you come home so unexpectedly,” said Judy; “to mamma, especially, though she has always dreaded it. Did you know you were coming?”
“No,” said Vivienne, in a low voice.
“I thought that you were to be kept abroad now that you have grown up. I don’t know why Stanton brought you back. Does he mean to keep you here?”
“I do not know.”