“You must, dear. Frankly, Anna, you know how I shall feel about parting with you all, but it will be a load off my mind. If a man is not able to care for his own, it is better for him and for them that they should go where they will be cared for.”
“You need not speak in that way, Arthur. You have done all you could. All this would never have been if it had not been for us, and your wanting us to have everything. We have been a helpless lot. None of us have ever blamed you or complained, not even Amy, baby as she is.”
“I know it, dear, but it is better for you all to go.”
“You have done all you could, always,” Anna repeated, in a curious, sullen fashion.
“Well, we will leave that. If Aunt Catherine takes you all this winter, it will go hard if I do not pay her in some way later on; but the point is now, you must all go.”
Anna shook her head obstinately.
Carroll bent down and kissed her. “Good-night, dear,” he said. “Try to sleep.”
“I wonder if those people are all gone.”
“Yes, I think so. I heard Marie lock the door. Good-night.”
Anna rose and threw her arms around her brother's neck. “Whatever happens, you have got your old sister left,” she said, with a soft sob.