So they agreed to go. Claudia felt, it must be owned, a little disappointed at what she had heard from her friends, but was inclined to believe that between the old life at home and the drudgery for the bare means of existence there still lay many things which she could do. She revolved the subject in the course of a morning walk on the day they were to visit the club, and returned to the shelter of her aunts' home with something of her old confidence restored.
Despite their goodness—Claudia could not question that—how poor, she thought, looked their simple ways! Aunt Jane sat, as aforetime, at one side of the fireplace, Aunt Ruth at the other. Aunt Jane was knitting with red wool, as she had always knitted since Claudia had known her. Aunt Ruth, with an equal devotion to habit, was working her way through a piece of embroidery. Molossus, the toy terrier, was asleep in Aunt Jane's lap; Scipio reposed luxuriously at Aunt Ruth's feet.
Mild Excitement
It was a peaceful scene; yet it had its mild excitements. The two aunts began at once to explain.
"We are so glad you are come in," said Aunt Jane.
"Because old Rooker has been," said Aunt Ruth.
"And with such good news! He has heard from his boy——"
"His boy, you know, who ran away," continued Aunt Ruth.
"He is coming home in a month or two, just to see his father, and is then going back again——"
"Back again to America, you know——"