"I have just thought of a plan which I think should work pretty well. I shall sail alone next Monday, and you and the children, with Aunt Mandy, of course, will follow me early in June."
"No, no, Rob, I cannot listen to such a plan." Mrs. Selwyn crossed the room to her husband's side. "If it were a case of a month or six weeks, I might consider it; but I shall never consent to your living hotel life for half a year. What if you should become ill? Think of the time it would take me to reach you. No, no, I must be with you. We shall find a cosy little place on the outskirts of Rome and make it our home. But Mary——" and the poor little mother bowed her head on the father's shoulder.
"Mary will be safe with me, Elizabeth," urged the Doctor. "She will be loved and cared for as if she were my own child. I shall arrange my affairs so as to take her South to a warm, dry climate, after Christmas, and remain there until the first of May. Then, I think Maryvale will be the best place for her with our own sister to keep a watchful eye on her. The Sisters and many of the pupils are old friends of hers, and I shall go out to see her two or three times a week. She will have country air and country food; and when you return in the fall, you will not know your tanned, rosy-cheeked little lass. Yes, Mary will be far better off there than alone here during the day with the servants. You, Elizabeth, will need Aunt Mandy, and I think you will find Tom very useful, Rob. I shall close the house and take some apartments in the building where my office is. Liza will keep house for me. But I would advise you to say nothing of all this to Mary before Saturday. She will be stronger then and better able to bear the thought of separation from you."
CHAPTER X.
A SEVERE TEST.
"Italy, Mother! Father must go to Italy? Where is that?"
It was Saturday morning. During the week, every one had been busy helping to prepare for the voyage; but as Mary was still too weak to do more than sit up in a big chair for a short time every day, she saw and heard nothing that was going on outside her own room.
"Italy is a country in the southern part of Europe, dear. Have you ever seen a map of Europe?"
"I am not sure, Mother. One warm day at school, Sister took us across the hall to a cooler room. There were big maps hanging on the walls; and she showed us the one of our country, and put her pointer right on New York. She couldn't find Maryvale; but only large cities are shown on that map; and Maryvale is not even in the village, you know. It is more than a mile beyond it."