“And was Mrs. Marsh good to you?” Dora inquired rather skeptically.
“Oh, yes; she and Ada were both very kind that day. Ada gave me chocolates, and Mrs. Marsh explained how good my brother was, and how fortunate it was that I didn’t have to go to an asylum.”
“I don’t think that was much,” remarked Dora. “A nice sort of man your brother would have been if he had let you be sent to an asylum. Is he very poor?”
“Oh, no, he isn’t poor at all. When Mother married Father all the money her first husband had left her went to her son. I heard Mrs. Marsh tell a lady all about it. Then after Mother died my brother went to live with his grandfather in Virginia, and when his grandfather died he left him all his money, too. He is a great deal older than I; he was fourteen when Mother married Father. He used to come to see us sometimes when I was little, and brought Father and me beautiful presents, but I don’t remember him very well, because he went to China when I was only six. But of course I’m very grateful to him.”
“Well, I can’t see anything to be so everlastingly grateful about,” objected Dora. “But say, don’t you want to play me a tune? I love to hear you play.”
Gretel sprang to her feet with sparkling eyes.
“Do you really want to hear me play?” she demanded, incredulously. “I didn’t suppose anybody cared about it. I’m afraid I’ve forgotten most of the things Father taught me, and Mrs. Marsh won’t let me touch the piano when she is at home. She says the noise makes her nervous.”
“It’s too bad,” said Dora, sympathetically; “you do play so lovely, and if you had lessons, why, my goodness, you might get to be a great musician like your papa. I don’t suppose Mrs. Marsh would let you take lessons. If she would I know an awful nice young man who’s a real high-class music teacher. He plays the piano at a moving-picture theater, and he’s been giving my sister Lillie lessons. I don’t believe he’d charge very high.”
Gretel’s face clouded for a moment, and she shook her head sadly.
“Mrs. Marsh won’t let me,” she said, with a sigh. “She says my brother only sends a very little money. That’s why I try to do things for Ada, to help pay my board.”