After a few minutes Ralph raised his head and wiped away his tears, seeming, Kathleen thought, a little ashamed of them.
"I'm sorry I cried," he said. "It looks so silly for a boy to cry, but a fellow can't always help it, 'specially when his father isn't coming home for Christmas, can he, Miss Mountford?"
"I don't think you were foolish to cry, Ralph," replied Kathleen, who saw that the allusion to his father's absence was nearly making the boy break down a second time.
"I'm so glad of that. It is nice to have a real friend besides the Kelpie. Father does not want to be away. He told me so in his letter, and he said if only I could be with—But I ought not to tell you that. It would be like asking. It would be mean."
Ralph shut his lips and held them tightly, as if battling against the temptation to continue.
Kathleen guessed the rest of the sentence, and said—
"Do you know, Ralph, I had been wondering whether you could come here for Christmas Day. I knew that your father would want you if he were at home, so I did not ask you when I invited the Stapleton children and some more whom you know. But I meant to do so, if you were likely to be alone."
"Did you though, Miss Mountford?" asked the boy, with sparkling eyes.
"Yes," said Kathleen, laughing; and, crossing to her writing-table, she took up a dainty note, with a sprig of holly for a seal, and addressed to Ralph Torrance, which she handed to him.
The boy took it eagerly, and then said, "Please excuse me," after the fashion of his elders, and waited till Kathleen gave him permission before he opened the note.