"What will Dad do?"
"Start all over again, I suppose—at the bottom," came wearily from her mother. "What else can he do?"
"Poor Dad," said Jo, the tears stinging her eyes. "It will be mighty hard on him. We—we've got to help him, Mother, you and I."
Mrs. Morley's grip about Jo's shoulders tightened.
"I am glad you take it this way, dear," she said. "Your father will need all the help we can give him." After a short pause she added: "I think one of the greatest trials he has to bear just now is that he can't send you to Laurel Hall. He has counted on it—almost as much as you have, I think."
Jo's lips quivered.
"There—there's some one on the porch, I think," she said and, rising, hastily left the room.
This was a mere pretense on Jo's part in order to get away from her mother before the latter saw how much the disappointment meant to her. But when Jo reached her front door she saw that some one actually was on the porch.
Nan and Sadie were there, arm in arm, and Sadie was in the act of ringing the bell when Jo forestalled her by opening the door in person.
"Hello! Just the person we want to see!"