Part 3 (1/2)
”No, indeed,” answered Lucy. ”I'm glad to find you so strong. But it makes me feel you do not need me as much as I thought you did. You are perfectly able to take care of yourself without my help.”
”Oh, I can take care of myself all right, young woman,” Ellen returned with an acid smile. ”I don't require a nurse--at least not yet.”
Lucy maintained a thoughtful silence.
”I don't quite understand why you sent for me,” she presently remarked.
”Didn't I write you I was lonesome?”
”Yes. But you're not.”
Ellen laughed in spite of herself.
”What makes you so sure of that?”
”You don't look lonesome.”
Again the elder woman chuckled.
”Mebbe I do, an' mebbe I don't,” she responded. ”Anyhow, you can't always judge of how folks feel by the way they look.”
”I suppose not.”
The reply was spoken politely but without conviction.
”An' besides, I had other reasons for gettin' you here,” her aunt went on.
”I mentioned 'em in my letter.”
”I don't remember the other reasons.”
Ellen stared, aghast.
”Why--why--the property,” she managed to stammer.
”Oh, that.”
The words were uttered with an indifference too genuine to be questioned.
”Yes, the property,” repeated Ellen with cutting sarcasm. ”Ain't you interested in money; or have you got so much already that you couldn't find a use for any more?”
The thrust told. Into the girl's cheek surged a flame of crimson.
”I haven't any money,” she returned with dignity. ”Dad left me almost penniless. His illness used up all we had. Nevertheless, I was glad to spend it for his comfort, and I can earn more when I need it.”
”Humph.”
”Yes,” went on Lucy, raising her chin a trifle higher, ”I am perfectly capable of supporting myself any time I wish to do so.”
”Mebbe you'd rather do that than stay here with me,” her aunt suggested derisively.