"She had vacations?"
"O certainly. She had vacations."
"Then can you tell me, Mrs. Busby, why Rotha never wrote to me?"
"I am afraid I cannot tell you," the lady answered slowly, looking into the fire.
"Do you think Rotha has forgotten me?"
"It is not like her, I should say, to forget. I never hear her mention you. But then, I see her little except in the vacations, and not always then; she was often carried off from me."
"By whom, may I ask?"
"O by her school teacher."
"And that was—? Pardon me, but it concerns me to know all about Rotha I can."
"I am not sure if I am justified in telling you."