“And I’ll tell Miss ’Eath you’re hawake,” she added. “She’s been up twice halready, but you were asleep both times. Mr. Douane told me to let them know the minute you hawoke; they’re hon the piazza together. I said there was something in the wind; I know the signs.”
Higgins departed, leaving Gretel very much puzzled by her last words. This was not the first time she had heard “there was something in the wind,” and she was beginning to be decidedly curious as to what it could be. She was not kept long in suspense, however, for in a very few minutes the door opened, and Miss Heath herself came in, looking prettier than ever, with all her dimples showing, and the brightest color Gretel had ever seen in her cheeks.
“I’m so glad you came to see me,” said the little girl joyfully, as her friend, after kissing her, drew a chair to the bedside. “I’ve had such a nice nap, and I’m not a bit tired now, only hungry.”
“Higgins has gone to order some supper for you,” said Miss Heath, “and while we are waiting for it I have come to have a little chat. I want to tell you about something which has made me very happy.”
“Oh, I’m so glad,” cried Gretel, and she took Miss Heath’s hand and kissed it in the pretty foreign way her father had taught her. “I know you must be happy; your eyes shine so. Has somebody you love very much come to take care of you, just as Percy came to take care of me? But, oh, I forgot; you haven’t any brothers, have you?”
“No, I haven’t any brothers,” said Miss Heath, smiling, “but you are not so far wrong in your guess, Gretel; some one I love, and who loves me, is going to take care of me, and I am very, very happy.”
“Is it a gentleman?” inquired Gretel, with a sudden flash of intuition, “and do you mean you are going to be married, Miss Heath?”
Miss Heath laughed a rather embarrassed laugh, and kissed Gretel again.
“You clever kiddie,” she said; “what made you guess? Yes, I am going to be married to one of the nicest men in the world—aren’t you glad?”
“Yes,” said Gretel, with a little catch in her voice, “I’m very glad for you, only—only if you get married I suppose you’ll go away, and perhaps I won’t ever see you any more. Percy and I were talking about you this afternoon, and we both hoped so much that we should go on seeing you when we went back to New York.”