Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/142

 Her mind went back to the time when Neil had asked her and she had run away; and then she began thinking of Aunt Hepzibah, and Micah's tree, and Dame Johnson, and Miss Hawley and the Faithful Seven. And before she knew it she had such a homesick feeling come over her that she cried a little, as homesick girls have cried since time immemorial.

"I might have known there was something," she thought next morning.

A letter had come from Aunt Hepzibah, and Aunt Hepzibah hadn't been feeling well for the last few days; "nothing much the matter," she wrote, "but I'm dreadful low-spirited—one of my spells, I guess."

"I'm afraid I shall have to go home to-morrow," announced Charlotte, looking up from reading her letter.

Mrs. Phair tried to dissuade her, and so did Perry when he called in the evening.