When she came home Mrs. Gerhardt, who was in the kitchen, received her with her usual affectionate greeting. “Have you been working very hard?” she asked. “You look tired.”
“No,” she said, “I’m not tired. It isn’t that. I just don’t feel good.”
“What’s the trouble?”
“Oh, I have to tell you something, mamma. It’s so hard.” She paused, looking inquiringly at her mother, and then away.
“Why, what is it?” asked her mother nervously. So many things had happened in the past that she was always on the alert for some new calamity. “You haven’t lost your place, have you?”
“No,” replied Jennie, with an effort to maintain her mental poise, “but I’m going to leave it.”
“No!” exclaimed her mother. “Why?”
“I’m going to New York.”
Her mother’s eyes opened widely. “Why, when did you decide to do that?” she inquired.
“To-day.”