"Yours is not red, my dear. It is a lovely shade, and Norah's is not unlike it, and just as abundant, or at least it was four years ago. Your hair, Molly, is what, I have heard my German friends call the 'Gretchen' shade, because they associate it with the heroine in 'Faust.'"
"I wish you could bring her back with you."
"I wish I could, but Norah's father will want her to himself for some time to come. They have been so long parted, and she is all he has."
"Where is Norah coming from, Miss Pease?"
"Somewhere in Switzerland. They spent the winter in Italy, then came further north as it grew warmer. Norah will have the one long journey between Geneva and Paris, rest a few hours, and then come on to London."
From all that had been said the Whitmore girls concluded that Norah Pease was about Molly's age, namely, In her sixteenth year, but she was really nineteen.
The little lady thought and talked of the girl as if Time had stood still with her since they last met, and had really forgotten the change that must have taken place.
Richard Whitmore returned without having seen either Colonel Pease or his daughter, so was unable to answer the volley of questions by which he was assailed.
"Miss Pease was comfortably established at the hotel selected by her brother, and had received a telegram announcing his arrival. She hoped to see him almost immediately. I thought it better not to intrude upon such a meeting by staying until he came," he replied.
Miss Pease wrote letters which showed that she was brimming over with gladness; but as the days went on a difficulty arose as to her return to Mere Side.