Ethel’s heart was very full. She ate with but little appetite and had finished her meal before any of the rest had satisfied their appetites. Her uncle saw it, and on leaving the table called her into the library, where he could speak to her alone.
“Well, my child,” he said, “I hope you have thought better of it by this time and do not want to leave us.”
At that Ethel’s tears began to fall. “I’m sorry, oh, so sorry, to leave you, uncle,” she replied, “but you know promises have to be kept, and I did promise to try it. So please don’t be angry with me.”
“I am sorry, like yourself, my dear child,” he said; “but do not blame you. Perhaps it is best you should try the plan; for as you can come back whenever you wish, it will not be risking a great deal, and I fear you will never be content until you have made the experiment. Your aunt and cousins all know about it and naturally are rather displeased, thinking it a proof that you do not value your home here as you might.”
“Oh, uncle, how can they think that! I am very, very grateful for your kindness in giving me such a home for so many years; but it would be asking too much of you to keep on supporting me and my sister Nannette now when I have grown old enough to do something for myself and may hope, if I begin at once to learn to make money, that in a few years I may be able to help her and Blanche and Harry till they too are able to earn their own living. Don’t you really think, uncle, that it is what is right and best for me to do?”
“That is a question we need not discuss now, since you are decided to try it,” he said, looking at his watch. “Well, child, I must be off to my business now; so let me kiss you good-by, and do not forget that if you want to come back at any time, your Uncle Albert’s door is always open to you—his dead brother’s daughter.” He took her in his arms and caressed her tenderly as he spoke.
“Dear uncle, you have always been so good, so good and kind to me!” she sobbed, clinging about his neck. “Oh, don’t ever think for one minute that it’s because I don’t love you dearly, dearly, that I’m going away.”
“No, I do not think that,” he said soothingly, caressing her hair and cheek with his hand, “but if you come back soon to stay with me, I shall think that is a proof that you do love me.”
“Indeed, indeed, I do!” she exclaimed earnestly, the tears coursing down her cheeks as she spoke. “And mayn’t I come here to see you when I wish and can be spared from the store?”
“Certainly; and it is possible I may some day call in upon you. Give me your address.”