"Oh, Hortense, Hortense," she wailed, "I've told her, and they've come! You don't think the shock will kill her, do you?"
But it was not Hortense who answered, or who held the hysterical child in loving, motherly arms.
"Marjorie, my dear little Marjorie, don't tremble so! Everything will be all right, my darling, I know it will, and here are Aunt Jessie and I come all the way from Arizona to give you a big surprise."
CHAPTER XXIV
MARJORIE HAS HER WISH
Marjorie declared afterwards that she was sure that was the happiest moment of her life, but at the time the joyful surprise, coming so soon after the nervous strain of the past hour, proved almost too much for her, and she could do nothing for some time but hold her mother tight, and cry as if her heart would break.
"It's the one thing I've been wishing for every day, and praying for every night since I came to New York," Marjorie said to her aunt, late that evening, when Miss Graham was in bed, and her niece was sitting beside her, holding her hand. "But I never dared hope it would really happen, even when I knew Dr. Randolph had gone to Arizona. We were all so excited about Barbara; it didn't seem as if he or Beverly would be able to think of anything else."
"It was all Undine's doing," said Miss Jessie, smiling. She was looking pale and tired, but very happy and Marjorie gazed at her aunt, with shining eyes.