“You are a very impertinent little girl,” said Mrs. Marsh, severely. “I was only anxious to have you appear well for your own sake. I am sure your brother must have been very much disappointed in you.”
“Oh, do leave Gretel alone, Mamma,” put in Ada with a yawn. “I don’t believe Percy cared whether she talked or not. How could a man of his age be expected to take any particular interest in a child like that, even if she is his half-sister?”
But even this last remark failed to disturb Gretel very much. She was a humble little soul, and it had never even occurred to her as a possibility that her faraway, almost unknown brother, could care much about her. Indeed, she had not hitherto cared very much about him herself, except to remember Mrs. Marsh’s oft repeated injunction to be grateful to her brother, to whom she owed everything in the world. But now all that was changed, and he had suddenly become her hero, the very most interesting person in the whole world to her.
“He kissed me twice,” she said to herself, with a little excited thrill, as she went away to her room, “and he said we should meet soon again. Oh, I do wonder how soon it will be.”
Then suddenly something that she had almost forgotten in the excitement of the past few hours flashed into her mind, and a look that was half shame and half fear came into her eyes.
“Oh,” she gasped, with a little irrepressible sob, “he must never find out about ‘Lohengrin.’ He would despise me, and if he knew, I think I should die of shame.”
CHAPTER V
GRETEL’S SUNDAY OUT
IT was Sunday afternoon, and Gretel was at home alone. Mrs. Marsh had gone to church, and Ada was spending the afternoon with friends. It was the maid’s day out, and Mrs. Marsh had told Gretel that she intended calling on a friend after church, and if invited, might remain to supper. Ada did not expect to return until late in the evening.
“So if neither of us comes home, you can get your own supper and go to bed early,” the good lady had added. “You are not afraid to stay by yourself, are you?”
“Oh, no,” Gretel had answered cheerfully; “I don’t mind a bit. I’ll read, and—and—do you think that perhaps my brother might come again to-day, Mrs. Marsh?”