“Wait!” was all that she would say.
Just then the bell rang, and a servant appeared with a card for Violet. She glanced at it, and her face flushed. The name upon the card was Captain Venners. She rose at once.
“Will you come down, Hilda?” she asked, laying the card before her cousin.
Hilda glanced at it.
“He has called to see you,” she returned, shortly. “No, I will not go down. ‘Two are company, and three a crowd!’ You know the old saying.”
So, feeling a little uncomfortable, Violet went slowly down to the drawing-room, in her plain black dress with soft white ruffles at throat and wrists, looking very fair and mournful.
“A sweet, true little woman!” thought Will Venners, as he took her little hand in greeting.
“I am so glad to see you, Miss Arleigh!” he began at once, in his frank, boyish way. “I hope that you are feeling better. My poor little friend, my heart aches with sympathy for you in your great loss!”
Her head drooped. The great tears welled up into her soft dark eyes; her chin quivered; but she controlled her emotion. She sunk into a seat at her visitor’s side.
“Have you seen Miss Glyndon?” she asked, after a brief silence.