“I’m sure I can’t,” protested Mabel.
It was not long before she cried herself to sleep, however, but Georgia sat where she was until the morning.
CHAPTER XIV.
TO KEEP THE FLAG FLYING.
“Mab!” Mabel awoke from her uneasy slumbers to wonder where she was, and why Georgia was sitting there, her face silhouetted against the square of grey light that represented a window. “Mab! Dick is not dead.”
“Why—oh, Georgie!—have you heard anything?”
“No; but I know it. We always agreed that if either of us died when the other was not there, the one that was dead should come back to say good-bye. And I have waited for him all night, and he has not come.”
Mabel gazed at her in dismay. “Oh, but you are not building upon that, Georgie? How can it be any proof that he is alive? He might not be allowed to come.”
“He promised. Besides, I know he is alive,” persisted Georgia obstinately. “If he was dead, I should feel it.”
“Georgie dear, you mustn’t go on like this. You will make yourself ill. Come and lie down a little, and try to go to sleep. I will tell you if he comes.” Mabel ended with a sob.
“If he does, I shall know,” murmured Georgia, as she lay down. “Thanks, Mab; I am so tired.”