After dinner, when the fire in the grate had been lighted--for the autumn evenings were beginning to bring chill to the air--and the family gathered for an hour's chat before bed, Miss Clyde broached the subject to Blue Bonnet.
"How would you like to continue your vacation for three months longer, Blue Bonnet, to stay on here with Grandmother and me until after the holidays?"
"And have no studies at all?" Blue Bonnet interrupted, her eyes widening with surprise. "What a lark!"
"Well, there would be duties," Miss Clyde admitted. "One could not be altogether idle and keep happy."
"We should like you to be our dear home girl for a while longer, Blue Bonnet," Mrs. Clyde said gently. "It is going to be very hard to give you up."
"But I shall be at home for the week-ends."
"We hope so, dear, if it does not interfere too much with your studies. Sometimes there is distraction in change of scene and habit. When you enter Miss North's school, you will be under her supervision, not ours--subject to her approval."
A little pucker wrinkled Blue Bonnet's brow.
"Shall I? Oh, dear, I do so hate being supervised. I mean by strangers, Grandmother. Will she be terribly strict, and--interfering?"
"Not any more than will be for your interest and welfare."
"Well, I reckon it will be all right. I want to do what you think best for me."
Mrs. Clyde could not withheld the triumphant look that she turned toward her daughter. It said plainer than words, "you see how amenable she is, how sweet her nature."
"And I could see a lot of the girls, even if they are in school. Perhaps the Club could meet oftener."
Miss Clyde was silent. Discretion and diplomacy often availed where hard and fast rules failed with Blue Bonnet. She could be led, easily--never driven.
Miss Clyde's silence puzzled Blue Bonnet more than the unexpected news that she was to remain in Woodford another three months had done. She was unusually keen and alert, intuitive to a degree, and while Aunt Lucinda's manner was all that could be desired, she felt that she had been a disappointment in some way. She rose a little wearily and going to the piano ran her fingers over the keys.
"Let us have a little music, dear, before we retire. It will seem good to hear you play again," Mrs. Clyde said.