Kate stopped braiding her hair and stared at her sister. "I don't know what he takes for granted, except that old friends don't change," she said. She continued to stare for a minute, then remarked slowly: "I know what ails you, Esther. You want to have a lot of romance and all that sort of thing. For my part I never could see that romance amounted to anything but getting all mixed up and having a lot of trouble." And having delivered herself of this she apparently resigned herself to her own reflections.
On the porch, still sitting in the evening darkness, Mrs. Northmore was saying to her husband at that moment: "Philip, what do you say to letting the girls go to New England? We've talked about it a good deal; why not settle on it? Now that the wheat has turned out so well, couldn't we afford it?"
"Why, I think 'twould be an excellent plan, Lucia," said the doctor, cordially. "I've thought so all along, but I was under the impression that you wanted the wheat money to go another way."
She gave a little sigh. "Yes," she said, "I did want to reduce that mortgage, but some things can wait better than others. It would do the girls good to go, and I believe Esther really needs a change."
"You think the child is not well?" queried the doctor, with a note of surprise in his voice.
"Oh, not ill," said Mrs. Northmore, quickly, "but"--she hesitated a moment, "she is rather restless and inclined to be a little morbid and moody. It might be worth a good deal to her to have a change of scene, and get some new ideas."
"By all means pack her off," said the doctor. "It's a prescription I always like to give my patients; and if that is yours for her I'll fill it with all confidence." He rose and stretched his long arms with a tired gesture. "I believe it's bedtime for me," he said, "and I rather think it ought to be for you too."
It was at breakfast the next morning that the great decision was announced.
"Well, young ladies," said the doctor, looking from one to the other of his older daughters, "what do you think your mother and I have decided to do with you?" He paused for just an instant, then gave the answer himself without waiting for theirs. "Nothing short of sending you East for the rest of the summer. We've held a council, and decided that nothing else will do in your case."