“I want to get into the country; I never walk through a street simply for the pleasure of it. I like to be alone.”
“Do you ever walk as far as Old Place?”
“That isn’t far, only three miles; sometimes I go to Mayfield, that is a mile beyond Old Place.”
“Isn’t Old Place splendid? Next to Mr. Gesner’s it is the handsomest place around.”
“It is more home-like than Mr. Gesner’s.”
“Sue likes Mr. Gesner’s better. I told her that I would take Old Place and she could have Mr. Gesner’s. Mr. Gesner’s is stone; Old Place is all wood. Do you ever see any of the Townes?”
“There are not many to be seen.”
“Counting Sue, there are three. Sue thinks that she is stylish, driving around with Mrs. Towne. She stayed a week with Miss Gesner once, too. Why don’t you and I get invited around to such places? Mrs. Towne ought to invite you. Mr. Towne used to come here often enough.”
“Used to come!” Tessa shivered standing in the sunlight. “Yes, it was ‘used to come,’” she was thinking. “I have been dreaming, now I am awake. I wish that I had died while I was dreaming.”
“Now you look pale again! I guess you are growing up,” laughed unconscious Dinah; “it’s hateful and horrid to grow up; I never shall. Remember that I am always to be fifteen.”