But Cousin Helen could
"read between the lines," and out of Katy's very reserve she constructed
an idea of Ned which satisfied her pretty well.
So the two happy days passed, and on the third arrived the other anxiously
expected guests, Rose Red and little Rose.
They came early in the morning, when no one was particularly looking for
them, which made it all the pleasanter. Clover was on the porch twisting
the honeysuckle tendrils upon the trellis when the carriage drove up to
the gate, and Rose's sunny face popped out of the window. Clover
recognized her at once, and with a shriek which brought all the others
downstairs, flew down the path, and had little Rose in her arms before any
one else could get there.
"You see before you a deserted wife," was Rose's first salutation.
"Deniston has just dumped us on the wharf, and gone on to Chicago in that
abominable boat, leaving me to your tender mercies. O Business, Business!
what crimes are committed in thy name, as Madame Roland would say!"
"Never mind Deniston," cried Clover, with a rapturous squeeze. "Let us
play that he doesn't exist, for a little while. We have got you now, and
we mean to keep you."
"How pleasant you look!" said Rose, glancing up the locust walk toward the
house, which wore a most inviting and hospitable air, with doors and
windows wide open, and the soft wind fluttering the vines and the white
curtains.
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