"
Then both Betty and Ann looked at Lynda. The sharp, outer air had
brought colour to her cheeks, life to her eyes. She was very handsome
in her rich furs and dark, feathered hat.
"Now, little Ann, trot along and do the lesson, don't forget!" Betty
pushed the child gently toward Lynda.
With a laugh, lately learned and a bit doubtful, Ann ran to the opened
arms.
"Snuggle!" commanded Betty.
"I'm learning, little Ann," Lynda whispered, "you're a dear teacher. And
now I have something to tell you."
Ann leaned back and looked with suspicion at Lynda. Her recent past had
been so crowded with events that she was wary and overburdened.
"What?" she asked, with more dread than interest.
"Ann, I'm going to take you to a big house that is waiting for a--little
girl."
The child turned to Betty.
"I don't want to go," she said, and her pretty mouth quivered. Was she
always to be sent away?--always to have to go when she did not want to
go?
Betty smiled into the worried little face. "Oh! we'll see each other
every day," she comforted; "and besides, this is the only way you can
truly adopt a mother and play fair. It will be another dear place for
Bobilink to go for a visit, and best of all--there's a perfectly
splendid man in the big house--for a--for--a father!"
Real fear came into Ann's eyes at this--fear that lay at the root of
all her trouble.
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