"You must not mind the poverty of your welcome," she said, with a half-proud, half-apologetic look around her, which I must say the bareness and shabby character of the room we were in fully justified. "We have not been very well off since father died and mother left us. Had you given us a chance we should have written you that our home would not offer many inducements to you after your own, but you have come unexpectedly and----"
"There, there," I put in, for I saw that her embarrassment would soon get the better of her, "do not speak of it. I did not come to enjoy your home, but to see you. Are you the eldest, my dear, and where are your sister and brother?"
"I am not the eldest," she said. "I am Lucetta. My sister"--here her head stole irresistibly back to its old position of listening--"will--will come soon. My brother is not in the house."
"Well," said I, astonished that she did not ask me to take off my things, "you are a pretty girl, but you do not look very strong. Are you quite well, my dear?"
She started, looked at me eagerly, almost anxiously, for a moment, then straightened herself and began to lose some of her abstraction.
"I am not a strong person," she smiled, "but neither am I so very weak either. I was always small. So was my mother, you know."
I was glad to have her talk of her mother. I therefore answered her in a way to prolong the conversation.
"Yes, your mother was small," I admitted, "but never thin or pallid. She was like a fairy among us schoolgirls. Does it seem odd to hear so old a woman as I speak of herself as a schoolgirl?"
"Oh, no!" she said, but there was no heart in her voice.
"I had almost forgotten those days till I happened to hear the name of Althea mentioned the other day," I proceeded, seeing I must keep up the conversation if we were not to sit in total silence. "Then my early friendship with your mother recurred to me, and I started up--as I always do when I come to any decision, my dear--and sent that telegram, which I hope I have not followed by an unwelcome presence."
"Oh, no," she repeated, but this time with some feeling; "we need friends, and if you will overlook our shortcomings--But you have not taken off your hat. What will Loreen say to me?"