“I will play for you as often as you like,” promised Miss Heath, who was pleased as well as touched by the simple compliment. “Do you expect to be at Old Point long?”
Gretel said that she was staying at the hotel with her brother, and that he was attending to some business in the neighborhood. She was not sure how long they would remain, but thought it would be several weeks.
“Then you must come to see me often,” said Miss Heath. “I haven’t very much to do, as the children object to my society out of lesson hours. Now come and I will show you the way up-stairs; Jerry and Geraldine will think you have forsaken them.”
Gretel found the twins deep in an animated discussion; Geraldine perched on the foot of her bed; Jerry standing in the middle of the floor, his face very red, and both hands thrust deep into his pockets.
“Here comes Gretel,” exclaimed Geraldine, as the visitor entered the room; “shall we let her settle it?”
“Not if she won’t settle it the right way,” returned Jerry, firmly. “I say it’s mean not to let her go.”
“What is it?” Gretel inquired, glancing from one solemn little face to the other.
“It’s about this afternoon,” said Geraldine; “Father has promised to take us to the navy yard at Newport News, and Jerry thinks we ought to let Miss Heath go, too.”
“Why, yes, of course you ought,” declared Gretel, with so much decision that Jerry gave vent to his satisfaction by an eager “Good for you,” and favored his new friend with a friendly smile.
But Geraldine was not so easily convinced.