black girl do in this wilderness?‚Äù Her heart answered back: ‚ÄúWhat is impossible to youth and resolution?‚Äù Let the shabbiness increase; let the debts pile up; let the boarders complain and the teachers gossip‚ÅÝ‚ÄîZora was coming. And somehow she and Zora would find a way.
And Zora came just as the sun threw its last crimson through the black swamp; came and gathered the frail and white-haired woman in her arms; and they wept together. Long and low they talked, far into the soft Southern night; sitting shaded beneath the stars, while nearby blinked the drowsy lights of the girls’ dormitory. At last Miss Smith said, rising stiffly:
‚ÄúI forgot to ask about Mrs. ¬ÝVanderpool. How is she, and where?‚Äù
Zora murmured some answer; but as she went to bed in her little white room she sat wondering sadly. Where was the poor spoiled woman? Who was putting her to bed and smoothing the pillow? Who was caring for her, and what was she doing? And Zora strained her eyes Northward through the night.
At this moment, Mrs. ¬ÝVanderpool, rising from a gala dinner in the brilliant drawing-room of her Lake George mansion, was reading the evening paper which her husband had put into her hands. With startled eyes she caught the impudent headlines:
Senate Refuses to Confirm
Todd Insurgents Muster Enough Votes to Defeat Confirmation of President’s Nominee
Rumored Revenge for Machine’s Defeat of Child Labor Bill Amendment.