to work.”
Miss Smith laid a kindly hand upon his shoulder.
“I’ve been waiting thirty years, Robert,” she said, with feeling, and he hung his head.
“I wanted to talk about it,” he awkwardly responded, turning slowly away. But Miss Smith stopped him.
“Robert, where is the land Cresswell offers you?”
“It’s on the Tolliver place.”
“The Tolliver place?”
“Yes, he is going to buy it.”
Miss Smith dismissed the boy absently and sat down. The crisis seemed drawing near. She had not dreamed the Tolliver place was for sale. The old man must be hard pressed to sell to the Cresswells.
She started up. Why not go see him? Perhaps a mortgage on the strength of the endowment? It was dangerous‚ÅÝ‚Äîbut‚ÅÝ‚Äî
She threw a veil over her hair, and opened the door. A woman stood there, who shrank and cowered, as if used to blows. Miss Smith eyed her grimly, then slowly stepped back.
“Come in,” she commanded briefly, motioning the woman to a chair.
But she stood, a pathetic figure, faded, worn, yet with unmistakable traces of beauty in her golden face and soft brown hair. Miss Smith contemplated her sadly. Here was her most haunting failure, this girl whom she first had seen twelve years ago in her wonderful girlish comeliness. She had struggled and fought for her, but the