“I do not know what to say! I can not realize that Little Sweetheart could defy us like this,” she answered.
“She has not been well trained, I fear,” he said. “I have a letter, too, from George Hinton. She has refused to come with him. She is determined to earn her own living, he says, but it may be that her old associates have wounded her pride by unkind allusions to her dependent condition, and fairly driven her into asserting her independence,” thoughtfully.
She caught eagerly at the idea.
“It may be true. Perhaps she has been misjudged. If she is so pretty, men may have fallen in love with her without much effort on her part.”
He smiled, and said:
“Dear little mother, always looking on the bright side of human nature!”
“Is it not best?” she asked, pleadingly; and Norman smiled again as he answered:
“Yes.”
“But what are you going to do, Norman? Must we give it up like this—after all my trouble, too? Those pretty rooms!” she sighed.
“Mother, I believe you are actually disappointed.”