Page:Malvina of Brittany - Jerome (1916).djvu/250

 "You forget," said Ann, "that I'm nearly thirteen."

"God bless my soul," said Abner. "How time does fly!"

"Who is she?" asked Ann.

"It isn't a 'she, explained Abner. "It's a 'he.' Poor little chap lost his mother two years ago, and now his father's dead. I thought—it occurred to me we might put him up for a time. Look after him a bit. What do you think? It would make the house more lively, wouldn't it?"

"It might," said Ann.

She sat very silent, and Abner, whose conscience was troubling him, watched her a little anxiously. After a time she looked up.

"What's he like?" she asked.

"Precisely what I am wondering myself," confessed Abner. "We shall have to wait and see. But his mother—his mother," repeated Abner, "was the most beautiful woman I have ever known. If he is anything like she was as a girl" He left the sentence unfinished.

"You have not seen her since—since she was young?" questioned Ann.

Abner shook his head. "She married an