“I’m going sometime, anyhow,” announced Jerry in a tone of settled conviction, and then the subject was dropped.
The car going back to Old Point was so crowded that it was impossible for the whole party to sit together. Mr. Barlow took the twins out on the front platform, and Gretel, much to her delight, found herself alone with Miss Heath.
“Do you think I have behaved myself well enough to be invited again?” the young lady asked, smiling, as the car started. “I haven’t mentioned any ‘teaching things,’ have I?”
“No, indeed you haven’t,” returned Gretel, laughing, “but I wish you would talk a little about ‘teaching things’ to me—that is if you like talking about them. You see, I’m dreadfully behind with my lessons, and I haven’t had any since January. My brother says he is going to send me to school next year, but he’s afraid it’s a little late to begin this season.”
Miss Heath looked interested, and by dint of a few kindly questions, had soon learned all Gretel’s simple story.
“It has been so beautiful ever since my brother came home, that I feel as if I must be living in a fairy story,” finished the little girl, “but I’m afraid if I don’t begin to learn something soon, he may be ashamed of me. I’m even forgetting my German.”
“I will speak German with you if you like,” said Miss Heath. “I studied music for several years in Germany, and used to speak the language fairly well.” And she added a few words in German, which caused Gretel’s eyes to sparkle with delight.
“You speak it beautifully!” she cried joyfully. “Oh, I am so glad. Nobody has spoken German to me in such a long time, and I love it so, because it was Father’s language. I wish my brother spoke it, but he says he doesn’t know a word.”
Miss Heath looked rather surprised, but seeing the tears in Gretel’s eyes, she refrained from asking any more questions.
“I, too, had a dear father, whom I loved very much,” she said. “He only left me last year, and I have missed him terribly.”