"Very well, Nan, let's stay," she returned, as though making a perfectly
ordinary remark. "I can't bear for Esther and me to have to go back
alone to our great, empty house with mother and father away and no
knowing when they may come back." (There was a catch in Betty's voice
that her friends understood, for Mr. Ashton was again seriously ill and
there was no hope of his returning to America at present.) "We can't
live in our tents of course, but I don't know why we can't build a log
cabin and somehow manage to get back and forth to school. When the snow
comes we can use our big sled."
"You are quite mad, Betty Ashton; Esther, please tie a handkerchief
around her lips before she makes us all equally so," Polly requested,
"for there is no hope of our doing anything so impossible, as she
suggests." And then because she caught an expression almost of
agreement on her sister Mollie's face, Polly paused, almost overcome
with surprise. Mollie, the sensible; Mollie, the practical--it was
incredible.
"I don't see that Betty's idea is so foolish, for at least some of us
might be able to live in camp this winter," Mollie thinking aloud as she
talked. "For you see, the doctor has said that Polly must be out of
doors as much as possible for the next year, and mother writes she would
rather not come home at present if we can possibly get on without her,
for there is something or other going on in Ireland that she has not
explained to us, but she says if she can stay a few months longer it may
make a difference in all our futures.
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