During those days letters came from home. Nan's Aunt Emma was doing as well as could be expected, but Nan could understand from her mother's letter that the family had hoped the invalid would improve following her act of standing on her feet during the fire scare.
"Oh, if only she could stand again—and walk!" exclaimed Nan to her chums.
"Wouldn't it be grand!" returned Sadie.
"It's queer the doctors can't do something," breathed Jo.
Poor Jo had her own sorrow—and the others knew it and sympathized with her thoroughly. Mr. Morley was struggling to make both ends meet. And so far nothing had been seen or heard of Andrew Simmer, the rascally fellow who had caused the trouble.
"I feel almost as if I ought to go home and help Mother," said Jo, more than once.
"No, you had better stay here and get a good education," replied Nan. "In the end, that may help more than anything else. With a good education you'll stand a better chance of earning good money."
The second Saturday after the tennis match was a beautiful day—one of those warm fall days that seems an echo of mid-summer. Since the chums from Woodford and some of their friends had been planning all week for a row up the lake with a picnic at the farther end of it, they greeted the dawn of this perfect Saturday joyfully and as one that had been made especially for their outing.
Sadie and Jo had kept up their practice with the oars and were by this time as enthusiastic over it as Nan was over tennis. They were becoming very skillful, and were impatiently awaiting Miss Talley's announcement as to the exact day of the proposed boat races.
"In the meantime, we'll show you how good we are," said Jo, as the chums joyfully shouldered lunch baskets and started down to the dock.